Gods, Heroes and Demons on Asia's Stages

A lecture series introducing Asian theatrical traditions through short video clips. The traditions encompass expressive body language in dance, symbolic hand gestures, acrobatics, stylized masks or colorful masks, and elaborate costumes. The lecturer is dance scholar Jukka O. Miettinen. Free admission.

7.9. From Rituals to Performances
Many Asian theatrical traditions developed from religious rituals and have retained their ritualistic nature. Combat arts have also influenced their development. The lecture covers various forms across a broad region - from Turkey to India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan.

14.9. Gods Dance in India
Many Indian theatrical traditions trace their roots to a theatre manual compiled around the beginning of our era, from which the still-used complex actor and dancer technique was adopted. Stories are brought to life through mime technique, which expresses different emotional states.

21.9. Southeast Asian Dance Dramas and Chinese Opera
Southeast Asia has countless theatre and dance traditions; the lecture focuses especially on the grand-scale court dance dramas. In China, the Cultural Revolution destroyed many theatrical traditions, but Chinese musical theatre, or "opera", continues to exist in many forms.

28.9. The Treasures of Korean and Japanese Theatre
Korea has preserved ancient dance traditions that have already disappeared from China. Regarding Japan, the lecture covers dance rituals over a thousand years old, the stylized no theatre that emerged in the 1400s, and kabuki theatre.