Performing for the Dalai Lama
It was an incredible honour for Trickster Theatre artists, as well as the school kids that we worked with, to perform for the Dalai Lama on his visit to Calgary.
The CONNECT NOW event where the Dalai Lama appeared took place in the Saddledome. It was an awesome experience with hundreds of performers and an audience of 17,000 eager Calgarians. The event included singers, choirs, an orchestra, Tibetan singers and dancers and honourary guests. We felt honoured to be asked to create the opening performance .
The Dalai Lama speaks about the need for Compassion in the world.
We took this as the central theme of our creative discovery. Using this theme we approached the entire process just like a Trickster Residency -- creating the show from the interaction between our artists and the school children.
We worked with Gr. 5/6 students from G.W. Skene School as well as Gr. 3 students from William Reid School. There were no auditions - we worked with entire classes to make the shows as inclusive as possible.
At G.W. Skene we created a flag dance, using flags and costumes in the Dalai Lama's colours of gold and burgundy. This was a beautiful fast moving piece with 25 sudents led by Nicola Elson of Trickster. In this dance we were welcoming the Dalai Lama as well as inviting the school kids and audience to embrace his teachings.
The flag piece led into a scene with the William Reid students- led by Trickster artist Jamie Northan. Their part of the show focused on the teachings of the Dalai Lama, with reactions from the children. They responded to themes like love, trouble, happiness and compassion. They also posed the questions - but what about war, poverty and child labour?
The Gr. 5/6 students from G.W. Skene performed a shadow play that focused on these questions, as well as more "monastic and metaphoric" images of compassion.
Together we
Bowing to the Dalai Lama.
Stopping the tank with flowers.
Transforming the Tank into a playground covered in flowers.
The shadow section of our show was led by Trickster artists Sheryl Chantler and Anita Miotti.
Overall production liason between Trickster and CONNECT NOW producers - Carter Mcrae Events - was done by Bruce Horak. David Chantler directed the Trickster show and handled technical liason.
