NOHGAKU FUNDAMENTALS Master Class
NOHGAKU FUNDAMENTALS
Master Class with Theatre of Yugen’s (San Francisco) Artistic Director Jubilith Moore
Saturday February 9, 2013, 12 – 2pm
$25
Registration required by 12pm, Friday February 8th.
To register or for more information, e-mail Jubilith at Jubilith@theatreofyugen.org or Call: 415-902-5631
Fundamentals of Noh and Kyogen is an experiential class in which participants are introduced to the neutral stance (kamae), sliding foot walk (suriashi), body composition of Kyogen’s stock characters (master, servant, yamabushi, and woman), basic movement patterns (kata) and vocal patterns.
WHY
Often described as the ‘art of performance,’ Nohgaku refers to the Japanese theatre forms of Noh (drama) and Kyogen (comedy). As the longest continuously performed theatre practice in the world, it has been kept vibrantly alive as each generation rigorously works to further cultivate it. Combining the elements of song, dance, mask, space and time, it is a total stage art created by hand. Nohgaku’s inherent principles are time-tested, unique and come together to create a highly refined stage aesthetic. Training is a practice wherein we search for principals and techniques to foster the development of the actor’s theatrical intelligence.
N O H is a highly refined, richly symbolic and beautifully stylized dance-drama written in lyric poetry. It is tragic, deeply philosophical and concerned with man’s spiritual beliefs and moral codes. Theatrical elements include a simple, elegant setting, elaborate costumes, two to three main characters, a chorus and a musical ensemble of three drummers and one flutist.
With satirical humor, K Y O G E N addresses such worldly concerns as greed, vanity and the pleasures of outwitting someone. These short comedies are cast with stock characters of servants and masters, wives and husbands, and feuding Buddhist priests.
WHO
A graduate of Bard College, Jubilith Moore is the Artistic Director of Theatre of Yugen and has been with the company, and a student of Yuriko Doi, since 1993. She acts, directs and writes for the theatre and has devoted her professional life to exploring the ongoing life of traditional Japanese and contemporary American theatre. She has studied Noh with Richard Emmert, Akira Matsui and Kinue Oshima (Kita school). While under a Japan Foundation Fellowship in Tokyo, she had the honor of studying with Kanze School Noh master Shiro Nomura, Kyogen master Yukio Ishida (Izumi school) and Kotsuzumi Noh drum with Mitsuo Kama (Ko school). She collaborated with Mr. Ishida on her full-length Kyogen style production ofCandide or Optimism. Recently she directed herself as the central figure in Erik Ehn’s Cordelia, which was invited to be a part of Soulographie: Our Genocides at New York’s historic La MaMa E.T.C. in November 2012.