Constellations Summer Camp 2019

In the past few years I got the opportunity to travel outside India and to see the world of theatre present in different places. During this journey I am glad I met Mario Biagini and was able to follow his work for a few months. One thing which I realized during these years is Knowledge is the real wealth. You control that, you control the people. It's very much true in the field of Art, at least in my county in the present times. Art was flourishing in India for many decades by direct transformation from a Master to his disciple. After the intervention of British Education and the concept of Modernity, everything changed drastically. Within generations the art forms thriving before 50 years where boxed as folkloric or traditional and lost the patronage of government. Government tried to build something Modern like western countries. But they miserably failed because they completely cut their bond with the native art forms from their own country. We can equal it to an experiment of growing a banyan tree without their roots in the soil.How are these points related to Constellations? Let's take myself as an example. Born in 1980's in India, A breed raised during a nation's transformation into modern lifestyle and modern education. I did my engineering studies and started to work as a software engineer when I was 22 years old. Till this point I don't have any experience of Theatre nor any other art forms. Most of the young people in India are like me. When I decided to do theatre, without realising I was standing at the edge of an abyss. The inner urge to perform was the only force pushing me through all these years. And by these years I realized I am blind. Blind to my surroundings, to the native art forms and artists around me. I also realized I need to learn To See and to do that I need to seek the knowledge from the Masters outside my country. Masters from the western world , who had negotiated the modern life surrounding them through their work. If someone likes to travel outside and learn, the only option is to go to a big theatre school by paying lots of money. Few privileged people from India were able to do it but a majority can't , in fact they are not even aware of those opportunities. This is where the Open Program of the work center of Grotowski led by Mario Biagini and the Constellations Camp at Theatre Medresesi becomes relevant and gains its importance in the present times. I see it as an alternate path for knowledge sharing, without obstacles of money, language, race, country or gender. Before 1000 years there was a university named 'Nalanda' in the western parts of India. The university was so huge and vast, it served all the people who came in search of Knowledge from different parts of the world. Founded as a Buddhisit monastery, the university covered diverse fields starting from religion, astronomy, mathematics to language and art. It was burnt down thrice, got revived twice and couldn't come back to life after its final destruction in 12 th Century by the invaders. They massacred all the monks and professors present in the university. In a way, It was the end of a cycle in India.I dream and wish Constellations Camp grows to be the Nalanda of our present times, where people in search of knowledge can seek asylum.

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

I remember last year, after having a tough year with doctoral program i had started in another city and my job as a research assistant in an university continued with a surgery that i underestimated, i was feeling tired, jaded from moving. I wasn’t very eager to come to Medrese, even though i was going to work with a theater group ( Open Program) which have always fed and inspired me in the recent years of my proffesional and personal life. (Anyways i don’t think these two are seperated at all.) I was thinking, at the age of 35, how was i going to share a dorm with many people. To leave my house, my safe space to go to a common space, where there will be no place to hide, no doors to close, no walls to raise, no chance to become invisible. A space without the tools of city life.I was frightened and anxious. After all the struggle i gave in my life to achieve to have a home of my own, at the age of 35 i was supposed to live with strangers for 3 weeks. I was considering myself as an adult and adults like me, in my socio-economical class do not share even a house. So i had this big, heavy bubble of ‘I’ breathing next to me, wispering to me, telling me what i should like, why i should like, determining levels; kind of living habits of me. I’m saying that i had this ‘I’ as if i don’t have it now. But it’s not true. I have it, have them. Always, with changing combinations but my ‘I’s are always there to make me feel as if I am! What was very interesting for me in Constellations’19 was that, i was very wrong. I stood in the dorm with i don’t remember the exact number but with many people and i had no problem with living with them. On the contrary i enjoyed their company, what they brought to my life was unpredictible by the every ‘I’ that i had at that time. It was pure joy. I felt like a child, with them. I felt my body and my soul yawned. I felt air in my body. I was bewildered by my dorm friends and other people i met in Constellations. I felt my bubble that i call my life had enlarged. As if it was something much bigger than i assume before. When i saw the program my first reaction was also ‘ oh this is too much for me, i can not consantrate on this amount of different information coming, encounters happening etc. I’ll be lost…’, because you know i knew myself i knew my limits, i knew everything about myself or did i? But it was one of the most significant months of my life where i got lost, i was bewildered. I left life flow like a river, with many rocks on the way; with currents taking me to places i would not go by myself.

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

The attendees were people from all over the world; There was a multiculturalism in the environment that, rather than acting as an obstacle, opened new possibilities of communication (is not communication one of the objectives of Art?) ... As a result of this multiculturalism, I was able to witness different points of view about Theater and forms of doing it that i had never even remotely witnessed. I was touched like never before by an arabic singing, moved by a dervish dance whit Iranian music (how can anyone not empathize with that country due to the current political situation after seeing a bit of the heart of the culture of those people?) And laughed like I had never done in a theater with a traditional japanese story ... and the only thing that all those "theatre forms" shared was the invitation to a communion ... thus, today I think that Theater is not a matter of BEING but a matter of HAPPENING.

The work that I was able to carry out during the Constellations Summer Camp 2019 is such a deep work that it ends up being a work on oneself (myself) through the encounter with the other, using Theater as an excuse for this encounter. It is a job that allows me to open up and be aware of the environment, others, myself and the present moment ... a job that allows me to harmonize and be present through the collective presence, which allows me to recognize myself in the other and the other in myself because in the end we are one ... In the end it seems like a work for life itself through conscience looking for a communion (what better justification to continue doing Theater in these times?) All the practical questions necessary to face the scene can be studied, trained and developed in countless parts of the world (and very well!), but this work that uses Theater as a way to integrate many more things is unique ... I say thanks and long live to Constellations Summer Camp!

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

CONSTELLATIONS
Behind the pomegranate tree
Lies the world, made of thousand languages,
Words and bodies resonating through the
Foundations of an old theatre.
The process that goes beyond lifetimes.
The longest night that leads us to the new day.

Back at our homes, there will be no sun waking us all in the first lights; and yet, in darkest times, we could lift our head, longing for a sky full of stars, start tracing connections.

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

Los asistentes eran personas provenientes de todos los lugares del mundo; había una multiculturaidad en el ambiente que mas que fungir como obstáculo abría nuevas posibilidades de comunicación (¿no es la comunicación uno de los objetivos del arte?)... Como resultado de dicha multiculturalidad pude presenciar distintos puntos de vista sobre el teatro y formas de hacerlo que jamás haba presenciado ni remotamente. Fui tocado como nunca por un canto árabe, conmovido por una danza derviche con música Iraní (¿cómo no sentir empatía con dicho país debido a la situación política actual después de ver un poco del corazón de la cultura de esas personas?) y reí como nunca lo había hecho en un teatro con un cuento tradicional japonés... y lo único que compartían todas esas “formas teatrales” era la invitación a una comunión... así, hoy pienso que el teatro no ES, el teatro ACONTECE.

El trabajo que pude llevar a cabo durante el Constellations Summer Camp 2019 es un trabajo tan profundo que termina siendo un trabajo sobre uno mismo (mi mismo) a través del encuentro con el otro usando como pretexto para dicho encuentro al teatro. Es un trabajo que permite abrirse y estar al tanto del entorno, de los demás, de uno mismo y del momento presente... un trabajo que permite armonizar y estar presente a través de la presencia colectiva, que permite reconocerme a mi en el otro y al otro en mi porque al final somos uno... Al final pareciera un trabajo para la vida misma a través de la conciencia buscando una comunión (¿qué mejor justificación para seguir haciendo teatro en estos tiempos?) Todas las cuestiones practicas necesarias para afrontar la escena se pueden estudiar, entrenar y desarrollar en innumerables partes del mundo (¡y muy bien!), pero este trabajo que utiliza el teatro como medio para integrar muchas cosas más es único... Digo gracias y larga vida al Constellations Summer Camp!

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

Hi,

Here I'm Bindu from India. I would like to share about my experience and my journey of Turkey. We started our journey at 27/8/2019 from our native, we reached banglore at 29/8/2019. here we took a flight from banglore to Turkey. With my friend Pallavi, and with my brother Ramu.we are all so happy to go turkey. Finally we reached turkey at 30/8/2019 we are all so excited to meet Magda and " Mario team". We met Magda! And " Mario team" and all peoples are all heartly welcomed and they arranged everything for us. we are so happy to met them in such a beautiful place "theatro medressi".

In "theatro medressi" constellation summer camp different activities are going on from one week before so at 31/8/2019 we are joined the classes. different types of activities was going but slowly we were involved the classes.Here we met different countries people, and different dance forms, different song's, So everything is different. First few days we were not able to took our classes. So we are attended other classes who are taking classes. From morning to evening, classes are going very well so we are interested to learned activities.

After few days we are ready to teach our classes, with our three pieces like suryashtakam (sanskrit Shloka), kolaata(stick dance with Kannada folk song), and harvesting dance. And "Mario team" was given time table. so through time table we choosen people to join our classes who are interested to learned these pieces. Starting it's difficult to teach them because of communication problem. day by day it's goes very well with beautiful good people.

We are leaned many activities like open program, it's too good and song composing class, mask class, hidden sing, balroom dance, afro - specific songs, Patanjali yoga suthra, these classes and painting class, wooden work, these all activities different for us we involved with people who taken these classes. And kitchen work also it's also beautiful experience for us.we are happy with people. And we inspired theatre artist who shows small pieces of drama! About " no where land" it's great work from artists.

Day by day "Mario team" was taking "open choir" this program was taking at night time it gives energy to body and gives to peace of mind.All people are together at night time with beautiful hall in "theatro medressi". It's unique program because they were singing and at the same time dancing with all the people so I was feeling very happy inside.

People are involved to cleaning space joyfully because of "medfest" it is festival to perform what we learnt. everyone was performed very well in this medfest we are also danced in full moon day with south Korean people dance, balroom dance, hidden sing.And we performed our three pieces of dance with people who joined to learn our pieces, so we joyfull celebrated that medfest.

After medfest all people are becomes good friends so we went to effes it's also beautiful experience to mingle with them.

Finally time is came to come back our native it's too hard to leave everyone but we say good bye and thanks to all "theatro medressi" also at 16/9/2019 with sad situation we leave turkey.

I would like to share one last thing for us first time we travelled to abroad by flight so it's unforgettable memories in my life. Thanks a lot for everyone.

Special thanks to Magda, and Aga. Thanks a lot for, "George growthowski and Thomas ritcherd work center". And "theatro medressi". Thank you so much for giving this opportunity. Thanks and Regards Bindu

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

I am one of the fans of Tiyatro Medresesi. When I was checking the workshops on the web page of Tiyatro Medresesi last year, I was very happy to see an international call for Constellations. But I was not sure if this call is for to whom. I am an engineer interested in art. But am I suitable for this camp? I was not sure. But when I read the text of the call, I wanted to try. I think It was one of my best decisions last year. I experience a lot of things in different art disciplines. I met a lot of different people and cultures. I had a chance to look in their eyes to their world and join their workshops. It was a very fruitful camp for me. I have already planned to join the next Constellations camp, even it was not finished yet. This camp helps me to understand the world better. I have not figure out how the world works yet, but I have better ideas. At least I know it is not that easy to understand. I hope to join this camp every year. Best wishes.

Constellations Summer Camp 2019

La noche que llegué al teatro venía cansada. El viaje para llegar ahí había sido 2 días de avión, buses, esperas. Llegué y me fui a dormir a la tienda de campaña. Me desperté por unos cantos que se escuchaban y me sentí arropada, acogida. Ahora, un año después de éste encuentro y viendo cómo ha seguido mi viaje desde ahí puedo darme cuenta que significó más de lo que podía imaginar. Tuve la necesidad de continuar un tiempo en solitario para aclarar los sentires. Lo íntimo y lo privado… ¿qué es la atención? ¿Qué es estar atenta? ¿Cómo es estar en relación con una y con los otros sin perderse en el intento? ¿Qué quiero construir? ¿Para qué el teatro? Sólo sé que comenzó un peregrinaje en donde el teatro mederesi fue el punto de inicio. Las necesidades han cambiado. Reconozco el teatro como una posibilidad, antes no. También apareció el conflicto… ¿cómo hacer teatro desde la imposibilidad? No sé si es casual, pero durante el último tiempo he sido testigo de cómo colectivos se deshacen, de cómo discursos hegemónicos terminan destruyendo lo construido. Es que acaso tanto nos cuesta corrernos de nuestras comodidades, de nuestros privilegios y acoger nuevas propuestas, nuevas formas de pensar y vivir. Tal vez sí, por eso la imposibilidad cómo punto de partida, por eso la palabra atención cobró para mí otro sentido. La atención como una acción para reconocer los espacios que habito y con las personas que me encuentro, que me reconozco. Con las que vamos tejiendo lenguaje siguiendo los deseos que nos unen, siendo el cuerpo como la primera frontera a derribar.

Quase um ano se passou daquele encontro e somente agora escrevo acerca de algumas impressões. Mas, me parece justo escrever nesse momento, num tempo que me diz sobre o agora, sobre ‘estar’ com presença ou da sutil percepção de que a vida nos ensina saber tudo superar. A ideia da viagem e o seu percurso me foram tomados pelo medo, pela ansiedade e expectativa de ir ao encontro a um lugar desconhecido, dentro e fora de mim. Lembro-me da sensação, ainda no longo trajeto, de conversar com a Grazy. Ela me perguntou se eu havia preparado alguma cena, no qual respondi que não, porém levava comigo alguns presentes. A ideia de carregar algo precioso, me soava como algo herdado dos ‘meus’, no qual me fora permitido compartilhar e me dava coragem para seguir adiante. Mas também me vinha a consciência de que outro presente seria dado a mim. Turquia. Estar em um território antigo e compreendido por tantos mitos me tocava profundamente. Adentrar o Tiyatro Medresesi foi como adentrar um solo sagrado, que consagra em seus pilares, em suas paredes, em toda sua beleza a memória ancestral. E poder permanecer por alguns dias nesse contentamento, atribui ao meu ser e ao coletivo vívido uma maneira singular de busca pelo amor, pleno, sem clichês. Agradeço, sempre, a oportunidade. Agradeço por aflorar os “EUS” da minha morada. Agradeço pelos cânticos e imagens que ressoam no meu pensamento.

Como se diz na minha comunidade: Mojubá! Modupé! (Eu o reverencio! Eu o agradeço!)

Asè! Asè! Asè!