Last week was Tá Na Deptford’s first official workshop following the Manifesta launch and I was glad to see a mixture of old and new faces turning up for what I had ambivalently promoted as a ‘Happening’!
Happy to have some new faces as it proves the word is spreading. Relieved to have old faces as it takes some of the pressure off me- the more people who understand the basic techniques, the less I would have to dictate. I was encouraged that the new people were willing to leave the comfort of their homes, step out into the night and head up the dingy back stairwell of the Amersham Arms pub - to enter the unknown realm of Tá Na Deptford. My concern arose when the moment people entered the space they felt compelled to find me and tell me that they were not going to participate, that they were either not actors or dancers or that they were unsuitably dressed for a practical workshop and would I mind if they stayed at the back and just watched. Of course I don't mind! It doesn't matter to me what people do with themselves (so long as it does not affect the performance in a negative way), people can partake, or sit at the back and get slowly pissed for all they like- there is never any compulsion to do anything in a Tá Na Deptford workshop.This is an essential part of the Tá Na Rua philosophy, which creates the backbone of our group. We Tá Na Deptfordians do things because want we want to. We follow our impulses- because of this the TND performance always has an incredibly life - fuelled by the energy emitted from a collective of performers doing precisely what they want, uplifted by their own spirits and giving it all they got! On the outside I pretended not to care about such attitudes and when people approached me asking for permission to not partake in whatever was about to happen I could only ensure them that there would never be any pressure on my part to force people into the practical work, that I would not be offering formal direction and intended to keep things as relaxed as possible. However inside I felt concerned- how are we to make successful performances within these workshops if people arrive having already decided not to partake?
When I first hatched the scheme to start up Tá Na Rua workshops up in an English context I expected people to encounter difficulty with the notion of working completely without direction in an environment were you are free to do what you want. One could argue that Brazil is a country that works more to the beat of this rhythm, certainly in my own experience out there I found a much more 'can do' than 'can't do' attitudes amongst the people I lived, worked and played with. If fact the very idea of a Brazlian person entering a happening above a bar and immediately seeking out the authority figure and asking permission to not partake in whatever might go on seems utterly ludicrous. This Brazilian ability to just do things, without concerning themselves with such worries as whether they ought to do it or whether they can do it, is something which while I would not condone to all aspects of our lives I would certainly try and encourage within the field of the arts.
This notion that we can perhaps learn by how the Brazlians approach arts/ culture in our own artistic practice was re-enforced for me when I attended a seminar this weekend entitled ‘POINTS OF CONTACT: transformational arts practices in Britain and Brazil’ ran by People’s Palace Projects. One point that came up which caught my attention was related to how the two countries define 'professional' and 'non-professional' artsists and how this affects their levels of social engaments. In Brazil, it is generally acknowleged that everyone has the right to be an artist, there is far less concern for who is the professional or the non- professional which I believe takes a great deal of the pressure off those who just wish to engage in a bit of cultural activity as they do not have to concern themselves with achieving any kind of artistic excellence.
Looking back on my first experiences of Tá Na Rua in Rio, I can see how the Brazilian approach to outsider engagement gave me the confidence to enter myself into such an alien performance activity. Having stumbled across a Tá Na Rua workshop one week, and when I say stumbled I mean hearing some crazy music coming out of a run down building in Lapa- entering through open side-door and climbing a dishevelled stairwell- uninvited. Once inside I did not only enjoy spectating but also began performing (uninvited) with the group- an experience which was in every sense Maravihoso, as Amir would say! Off the back of my apparently un-European courageousness I then got actually invited to take part in their professional workshops and from then on continued to climb that disheveled staircase a few times a week until the day I left. The idea of not only gatecrashing but throwing yourself unasked into a professional theatre company rehearsal seems utter madness here in London! Why had it been so easy to walk up those stairs and begin performing with a group I had never seen before? Why, when confronted with a group of Tá Na Rua actors (who make up a very professional theatre company) did I feel it was OK for me to take part in their unique rehearsal? Why? Well to coin one of my most used Portuguese phrases- porque não? (why not?)
The truth is I do not blame first timers at a Tá Na Deptford workshop for not arriving with the kind of spontaneous adventurism that I believe I exhibited in Rio that first night I met Tá Na Rua. If I am honest I treat life differently when I am in this city to the way I do in Rio, every situation- from a job interview to a neighbour's BBQ- I approach differently. Handling my day-to-day life with more care, greater order and less spontaneity. However Tá Na Deptford is a theatre group that intends to create performance fuelled by spontaneous, impulsive creativity and so I have to some way find away of creating such conditions for the group to be able to embrace these techniques.
Currently we are running workshops in a room above a local pub rather than hiring out a dance studio (which I have once tried) for the very reason that we need to be in an environment where non-professional can enter and be comfortable enough to create (unintentionally) amazing performance. We are promoting our workshops as creative ‘happenings’ rather than formal workshops in the hope that people who arrive do not feel they need to have any prior performance training. We are advertising around local cafes, shops and cultural centres rather than arts websites in the hope of picking up some eager non-professionals who are interesting in trying their hand at something a bit different. Yet all this is clearly still not enough if from the moment people enter the room they choose to opt out of the activity before it has even commenced. Luckily, our first non-official workshop which we branded as a MANIFESTA party rather than anything remotely formal- managed to lure the participants into their comfort zone enough for them to produce fantastic Tá Na Rua style workshop scenes. And luckily some of the Manifesta crowd had returned this week for the Wednesday Happening. Amazingly, without me needing to offer any kind of direction the Manifesta group set about exploring the ever-expanding costume collection as our DJ began spinning some tracks and soon they were performing. And after a while, the first timers stopped worring about whether I would tell them to join in and more curious about what the costumes would look like on them and soon, thanks in part by the impulsive performance created by the manifesta group, and in part by the fantasiticly catchy tunes being played by our DJ they got up and began performing.
It was a fantastically successful first workshop and I think you'll agree the proof is in not the pudding put the pictures!
Deptford 'happenings' will happen every Wednesday from 8pm in 'the gallery' above the Amersham Arms in New Cross. Entry is free, but costume donations are always welcome!
