Asia-Pacific theatre students to brainstorm in Delhi conclave

NEW DELHI - Theatre will forge a new cultural diplomatic linkage in the Asia-Pacific region when more than 300 young students and faculties of eight theatre schools from the region open a dialogue on dramatic methodologies, pedagogy, stage idioms, narratives and dramatic traditions at the National School of Drama (NSD) here during the second Asia-Pacific Bureau Meet of drama schools Jan 3-9, 2011.

It will be the biggest-ever conclave of theatre students from the Asia-Pacific region in the country.

The Asia-Pacific Bureau of theatre is the regional cell of UNESCO’s chair of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a world theatre platform set up to promote international exchange of knowledge, practice in the domain of performing arts and to promote world peace.

Delhi’s NSD is the president of the Asia-Pacific bureau while the Shanghai Theatre Academy is the secretariat. The bureau has 16 member drama schools from the region.

“The idea is laudable. The bureau met in Shanghai two years ago. We collectively discussed and interacted on teachers’ and academic mobility, possibility of summer schools and provided students an opportunity to see each other’s work with a festival of plays staged by the students,” NSD Director Anuradha Kapoor told IANS here.

The participating countries include Singapore, Thailand, Shanghai, Beijing, Iran, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong, she said.

“It will open Jan 3 with a series of training workshops followed by informal interactions. On Jan 8, the bureau will host an institutional methodology - where the team leader or team faculty member will speak about their respective institution,” she added.

The workshops and discussions will be accompanied by plays staged by the NSD students on the ethnic Nautanki and Raas traditions of Uttar Pradesh.

“The region has several common theatrical traditions like dance, movements, costumes, unique narratives and story-telling. The dialogue will help establish the commonality of the language of theatre,” Kapoor said.

“Unlike realistic theatre, Asian theatre is more stylised, traditional and rich in traditional resource. We want to find the right module - a mix of both Asian and western formats - to train students,” she added.

“Indian theatre draws from ancient traditions like yoga, ‘thang ta’ (martial arts), ‘kudiyattam’ (earliest vedic form of natya shashtra) and even herbal massages, which have been taken to the west by theatre exponents.”

“Since the 1970s, the world has looked to India for new theatre. Hence, the importance of India in the Asia-Pacific dialogue.”