Article for ISTA

I was asked to write an article on my experience in ISTA Festival:

My experiences in ISTA Festival
In the beginning, our teacher told us about a theatre festival that will host international students from different countries, which will take place in Hong Kong. A lot of people showed their enthusiasm but I wasn’t sure what to think about it, and if I would like to take part in this festival or not, only because I was afraid and nervous. I was afraid about acting for 3 days in a foreign language, and I was especially afraid to perform in front of so many people. I thought about it for couple of days, and than I decided to come, just so I can say I faced my fears.

Even though I live in Hong Kong, the festival made me know Hong Kong better and appreciate the fact that I live here more. The experience of visiting the Big Buddha was amazing, and I couldn’t believe that I was never there. In the end of the first day I felt a relief, because I knew my group members, I knew what am I going towards to, I met some really nice people and I experienced a lot. The big Buddha, the workshop with all the members, the activity in our ensembles- they all gave me an idea of what is going to happen and the fact that I will have the best time there.

One of the people that impressed me the most was Ruth, my ensemble leader. Ruth comes from the dance area, which I never had any connection to. I was very excited to be guided by a dancer in a festival about movement theatre, because she has a lot of experience with this area. Ruth was very open, but in the same time she had a very clear vision. She new what she wanted to do, but on the same time she didn’t try to force us to go for directions that we don’t feel comfortable with, nor with the exercises nor in the final show. She let us explore our body, movements, the space, the group members and music. The most important thing that I took from Ruth is the ability to express yourself with movement, and her self confidence. I felt sometimes a little bit exposed, while doing a curtain action, but Ruth encouraged me to explore the space, “scoop” and let yourself loose. I’ll try to use it in the future, when I’ll have to exaggerate my movements on stages, develop a character or if I’ll want to involve special movement-dances sections in my shows.

The most special moment for me during the festival was in our final performance. Our group had to different scenes, one that shows the “falling” part of a spiritual journey, letting yourself go, and the other one about hanging on with yourself, a friend, faith and religion, which we showed by hugs. On our final performance, we decided to hug the audience- first, to make the show more interactive, second, to let them experience what we were experiencing in our spiritual journey. When I went to hug the audience, I felt “high” in a way- I felt concentrated but on the same time, I didn’t think about what I am going to do. I got connected to the music, looked to the audience in the eyes, showed them that my hug is real, searched for the “right” person, and hugged him. That was an amazing experience for me, and maybe, that was the spiritual journey in my experience in the festival.

My ensemble, rehearsing our “hugging” scene for the final performance

The thing that I found really hard was one of my master classes, the “musical dance” with Jessie. I never danced before in a professional way, though I was always very interested in musicals; therefore I was looking forward this master class. However, I couldn’t do it- as much as we rehearsed and tried again and again, it couldn’t manage to remember all the movements, listen to the music, looking at Jessie and act on the same time. It was a bit disappointing, especially because there wasn’t enough time to practice and try again, but I had an amazing time there- I understood how powerful dance is, and how act is necessary in this type of performance.
ISTA was an amazing experience. I got to know a lot of different people from all over the world and had the right to work with professionals from all different theatre areas. I faced my fears, and let myself to go, for once. I improvised, which usually I’m trying not to, and I didn’t let language to be a factor in this process. In the future I will defiantly try to involve body-work more, and look on how I can use my body as a tool, because it is natural and accessible. ISTA, challenging, exploring, contactin