I thought of you Ray when I first watched this interview. Specifically this section that talks about Art and its ability to transform:
MOYERS: What I sense in you as a seeker, a pilgrim, soldier, whatever. You're
a seeker.
TAYMOR: I am often interested in the story of the outsider. You know I lived in Indonesia for many years.
MOYERS: What happened to you in Indonesia.
TAYMOR: This is probably it for me. This is the story that moves me the most. I was there for two years and I was planning to stay longer and start a theater
company. I went to Bali to a remote village by a volcanic mountain on the lake.
They were having a ceremony that only happens only every 10 years for the
young men. I wanted to be alone. I was listening to this music and all of a sudden out of the darkness I could see glints of mirrors and 30 or 40 old men in full warrior costume-- there was nobody in this village square. I was alone. They couldn't see me in the shadows. They came out with these spears and they started to dance. They did, I don't know, it felt like an eternity but probably a half hour dance. With these voices coming out of them. And they danced to nobody. Right after that, they and I went oh, my God. The first man came out and they were performing for God. Now God can mean whatever you want it to mean. But for me, I understood it so totally. The detail on the costumes. They didn't care if someone was paying tickets, writing reviews. They didn't care if an audience
was watching. They did it from the inside to the outside. And from the outside
to the in. And that profoundly moved me then.
MOYERS: How did you see the world differently after you were in Indonesia?
TAYMOR: Well I understood really the power of art to transform. I think transformation became the main word in my life.
Transformation because you don't want to just put a mirror in front of people
and say, here, look at yourself. What do you see? You want to have a skewed
mirror. You want a mirror that says you didn't know you could see the back of
your head. You didn't know that you could, like a cubist, see almost all the
same aspects at the same time. It allows human beings to step out of their
lives and to revisit it and maybe find something different about it.
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And of course teaching is the most powerful art form.
Take care,
Brian
Hello Brian, An alum of our program had a lead in Taymor's Juan Darian at Lincoln Center a few years back. We provided the $26,000 scholarship for her lessons during the 8 weeks of performance since the cast was on a Local and Regional Theater Contract (LORT) rather than a New York one. I think she took home $600 per week after taxes. She lived in New York and had two kids. That is why we choose to support the project with our scholarship. Her part was written for her special talents and they were unable to cast an understudy. I recently saw her on the Sopranos playing an "Indian" part protesting Columbus Day. She stood at the base of the statue of Columbus and protested the Italians. She was very good of course, the irony being that she was the one in the cast who is a trained singer of Italian opera (even though she is American Indian) graduate of a major New York conservatory while the actors playing the Sopranos weren't. The average salary of graduate singers in New York City is $15,000. Would that my other service providers were trained as well. Or maybe I would just welcome a little more Welfare State at this point and time in my life. But that would be too common sensical to be good economics right?Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian McAndrews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 4:21 PM Subject: Bill Moyers Interviews Julie TaymorLast Friday night I just happened to catch a portion of Bill Moyers'> PBS programme NOW. Moyers was interviewing film director Julie Taymorabout her new movie. It is a remarkable interview exploring art, politics, religious passion. Some of you might enjoy the transcript: http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_taymor_print.html
-- ************************************************** * Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator * * Faculty of Education, Queen's University * * Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 * * FAX:(613) 533-6596 Phone (613) 533-6000x74937* * e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * "Education is not the filling of a pail, * * but the lighting of a fire. * * W.B.Yeats * * * **************************************************
