Anthropology and theatre for toddlers
Subhashim Goswami
(Shiv Nadar University)
Contribution description:
In this studio I would like to share my work on theatre for toddlers as an extension of my anthropological practice and invite a collective introspection on whether we can think about anthropology and pedagogy as the coming together of the sensorial and the material tangible.
Paper long abstract:
I have been engaged in making plays for toddlers, that is make plays for children below 3 years to watch while being a practising anthropologist. But how does one create a language of the theatre when precisely the faculty of language, spoken or the word is not a given? For toddlers, the world through language is not available in quite the same way as us adults or even slightly older children who can imagine up the hills, river and rain if one utters these words. If you gesturally pass a ball to a toddler without a tangible ball, it is confusing. Given this stage of socialisation, how can we create a piece of theatre or art for toddlers where language is not confined to the spoken or the word. Given this constraint, toddler theatre works with tangible physical material, preferably one single material on stage to communicate a theatre experience. Materials move, make sound, can be seen in different ways, they have a surface, tactility, colour and shape - all the crucial elements of theatre. But what is the play of material that makes it theatre? It is at this point, that I have found ways to merge and learn from being an anthropologist while making plays for toddlers. Materials work aurally and visually and certainly creates a sensorial experience for an audience but as creators of a theatre piece what becomes interesting for me is to think about how a conceptual frame can inform the play of material on stage. If paper crumbles or sand takes shape does it evoke an emotion? What happens when actor's bodies interact and play with paper crumbling or sand taking shape? Can we have a concept that informs the movement of paper, clay, sand, glass, steel, seeds or whatever material we choose to work with? How do actors react, respond, laugh or cry or move with material. Figuring out reasons of how and why should materials move, collide, overlap or play is informed by a concept that only we as creators work with. We do not expect to communicate a concept to a child but we work with the conceptual to inform the making of the sensorial. While toddlers are our primary audience, they never come unaccompanied. Adults either as parents or guardians always accompany a toddler. We do not want to treat adults as caretakers of a child in watching a play. They are an equal audience for us and the challenge of this theatre piece is to create something that works for a very young child and an adult at the same time. Narrativising the movement of material on stage in interaction with live bodies, informed by a conceptual frame then becomes the fundamental principle of toddler theatre and this for me is the basic motif of any pedagogical exercise and even anthropology for that matter - an invitation to a sensorial embodiment which allows us to respond to the world beyond ourselves but through the tangible real.
Accepted Contribution:
Contribution description:
Paper long abstract:
I have been engaged in making plays for toddlers, that is make plays for children below 3 years to watch while being a practising anthropologist. But how does one create a language of the theatre when precisely the faculty of language, spoken or the word is not a given? For toddlers, the world through language is not available in quite the same way as us adults or even slightly older children who can imagine up the hills, river and rain if one utters these words. If you gesturally pass a ball to a toddler without a tangible ball, it is confusing. Given this stage of socialisation, how can we create a piece of theatre or art for toddlers where language is not confined to the spoken or the word. Given this constraint, toddler theatre works with tangible physical material, preferably one single material on stage to communicate a theatre experience. Materials move, make sound, can be seen in different ways, they have a surface, tactility, colour and shape - all the crucial elements of theatre. But what is the play of material that makes it theatre? It is at this point, that I have found ways to merge and learn from being an anthropologist while making plays for toddlers. Materials work aurally and visually and certainly creates a sensorial experience for an audience but as creators of a theatre piece what becomes interesting for me is to think about how a conceptual frame can inform the play of material on stage. If paper crumbles or sand takes shape does it evoke an emotion? What happens when actor's bodies interact and play with paper crumbling or sand taking shape? Can we have a concept that informs the movement of paper, clay, sand, glass, steel, seeds or whatever material we choose to work with? How do actors react, respond, laugh or cry or move with material. Figuring out reasons of how and why should materials move, collide, overlap or play is informed by a concept that only we as creators work with. We do not expect to communicate a concept to a child but we work with the conceptual to inform the making of the sensorial. While toddlers are our primary audience, they never come unaccompanied. Adults either as parents or guardians always accompany a toddler. We do not want to treat adults as caretakers of a child in watching a play. They are an equal audience for us and the challenge of this theatre piece is to create something that works for a very young child and an adult at the same time. Narrativising the movement of material on stage in interaction with live bodies, informed by a conceptual frame then becomes the fundamental principle of toddler theatre and this for me is the basic motif of any pedagogical exercise and even anthropology for that matter - an invitation to a sensorial embodiment which allows us to respond to the world beyond ourselves but through the tangible real.
Anthropology as education
Session 1