Of being a woman...

flyer - designed by Peishan

The fantastic AWARE drama workshop that I attended last Saturday from 1.30 to 5.30pm. In that room at aware centre, there are about 15 participants - from old women aged 60s to ladies in 20s - im one of the youngest. From different race, personality and background. Seriously, there's so such diversity and strong vibes in the room! The session was very thought-out and well-planned. At the outset, we were told to do a simple movement to introduce ourselve to the group. Can see some very curve and some very sharp moves, some natural and creative ones! Then we share stories we heard before (fables, stories) that had girls inside - Little Match Stick girl, Cinderalla, Nezha, Little Red Riding hood and discussed the meanings and stereotypes behind each. From there, we dramatise our story in 3 movements within 15min. My group (5 people) did the little red riding hood story and finally we had pose in a final position to capture with a static shot of story - what would it be? Not easy. That last FREEZE pose had to convey the whole meaning and convey the ESSENCE of the story(expression, emotions, facial expression) of the story. Little Red Riding hood, was it shock? or how smart the girl was to outwit the wolf? What are the critical dimensions to explore? The whole group then analyze that last frozen pose, the interplay of central characters and team together with our movements - Morphing. Very creative dramatisation among all the women, very expressive performance... we are all beginners in this! The next activity is my favourite! Browsing through women's magazines, cut, tear and pasting on paper - the themes,analyzing representations of women in those magazine, and re-creating them in our work of art - what are the messages, how women was protrayed and depicted in ads. Words describing and associated with the ads were written near the edge the ads. Media representation and what it tells us -HOW WOMEN were protrayed by the media. After which, each of us explore the 3D to 2D effect- lie down in a position that we want, a posture that best captured how we felt towards the whole session so far. Then we outline the person's body with crayons. These overlapping layers, gives new meanings and inspiration to more words and new creations. VOila! A piece of art that encapsulated our reflections, our ideas, our perceptions of HOW WE VIEW OURSELVES AS WOMEN (from our perpectives) in the inner circle...and how that differs from external representation by media and others. Are we affect by these images? Are we challenging these? We then stood around our art and took turns to draw/illustrate with words what we "saw" from the visuals, or ideas or words that sprung to mind when we are looking at each other... the looks on our faces, our reaction to each word, emotions that beyond the layer, within us, the vibes conveyed from our interaction to words to dramatisation to action! The feeling of liberation...

The meanings of being, are fluid and changing. This is continously shaped and negotiated by our actions, thoughts, behaviour, emotions, values and representations of others and on ourselves. (as part of society) The notion of morphing, with our interpretations and ideals of self and others. Then we retold our first story that we dramatise with our movements and made changes....the difference was starck. The two representation had taken new meanings, incorporated new representation. We were inspired by one another. MORPHING rethinking what a women means to us. After the illustration, we paired up to write a story on what story we can tell or share with our children next time. The group beside me had a tale of black men and make up of the gal (metaphor); the new girl i met is a vocalist - we wrote a short story 5 lines...about a blind girl who aspires to be the first president of Singapore, ostrasized by society, when she regain her sight, she went to pursue her dream. was kinnda juiced out on ideas by 5pm on sat afternoon. Interestingly, one way of seeing is another way of not seeing....Noorlinah interpreted it as, when she was blinded - shecouldn't, when she lost it, (when she regain her sight), she became.

Many interesting stories were told, with their own fusion of ideas, lovely sharing! There's one told by Noorlinah... In her mind, she travels. A girl lives in a house full of sharp objects, of glass, of knives.. In the morning, she faces and is surrrounded by sharpness. Come 9pm, she jumps into bed, below her blanket, she travels on vessels, on ships....story repeats..then ending was she grow up to be essentric and electic. Then Noors laughs as she ends her story...The story sounded nice, with rhyming words and the tone narrated by Noor sets the mood for a lovely story to be told. Much to think about the message behind it. Another story was a the black men and how they painted the girl and one day, the mask was removed.. JooH. told of the growth of a girl to adulthood, to old age..."when you were born, you were crying; when you leave the world, you laugh and others cry. Another tells of the boy who held on to the chocolate and didnt eat it along the way, while others did and had many ways to do it along the journey, while he kept it to share with his sister at the end, as promised. It was the hope that kept him alive. We had to choose a story from the whole group and dramatise in 3 moves. Coincidently, and unplanned, 2 groups - my group and another did the black men one. both group was very different in the dramatisation. VERY!
At the end of the session, each of us wrote a letter to ourself , " Dear Peishan, .." and wrote what we learn and what one say ourself. After today's workshop, I felt liberated in some sense. The representation of ideas, and interaction with this group of special women gave me strength and new perspective of things. We also ended the session with a body movement that we started - presenting a movement that best represent one self, the essence of you as a person. The session was facilitated by president of SDEA - Noorlinah (a very vibrant chinese lady) - part time teacher at Laselle, conducts classes for the prisons. Next up in may is a drama workshop that helps bonding between parents and children. Felicia volunteers at North light sch. Both with so much passion in drama. Thanks Joo Hymn for organising this wondering session. The new exco is headed by ex-AWARE president Constance Singam. see SDEA singapore.drama.educators.association >> http://www.sdea.org.sg


We then stood around our art and took turns to draw/illustrate with words what we "saw" from the visuals, or ideas or words that sprung to mind when we are looking at each other...how we had inspired each other... the looks on our faces, our reaction to each word, our imaginations, our (hidden) emotions, the layering, the diversity of women present in the room reminds me of the stages of growth (from youth - women), the vibes conveyed from our interaction to words to dramatisation to action! The feeling of liberation...