Eugene,
I have not read as much Bakhtin as I would like, but in what I have read I
have often seen connections between Bakhtin's work and improvisation. Do
you have anything in particular you would recommend that I read?
Carrie
On Thu, 7 Aug 2003, Eugene Matusov wrote:
> Dear Carrie and Ana-
>
> I just want to make a connection between your characterization and emphasis
> on "not knowing" in improvisation and Bakhtin's notion of "unfinalizing". He
> also stressed importance of listening and responding to others. Bakhtin
> argued that Dostoevsky did not tell about his characters more than they
> already know themselves. He generalized that this type of unfinalized and
> addressed relations have to be the key for any social sciences.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Eugene
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lobman@rci.rutgers.edu [mailto:lobman@rci.rutgers.edu]
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 1:18 PM
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: RE: improv
> >
> >
> > I think improv does change some of the expert/novice dynamic because its
> > a not-knowing activity--as Ana says no one "knows" where it is going. I
> > do think I think for me the prerequisite to listening and responding is
> > not knowing. It is impossible, not to mention not necessary, to listen
> > to people if we already "know" what they mean--it stops the process of
> > making meaning together.
> >
> > I see this as different than equalizing people or making people
> > equal--in my experience when people improvise together all of the power
> > relationships are still there, but they are played with or used in the
> > process of creating the performance.
> >
> > For example, there was one man and seven women in the group of teachers
> > that participated in the improv trainings. During the first couple of
> > weeks some of the women had reactions to the more his "more male"
> > performances--more vulgar or lifting up his shirt... In addition he was
> > the only one in the group with any theatre training so his performances
> > tended to be a little more polished. Over the course of the eight weeks
> > the group began to use his offers to create interesting scenes--they
> > began to use their more "honest" reactions to him to create playful
> > scenes about sex roles.
> >
> > Carrie
> >
> >
> > > I loved the idea of improv leveling power differentials. That is a
> > major
> > > goal of various customs in the 5thD. It is, however, very threatening
> > to
> > > teachers who are working in regimes where they must appear to be in
> > > control all the time!
> > > mike
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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