I will never forget a wonderful course I attended on the subject of 'Acting Shakespeare' at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and a particular event when an Italian girl performed a Shakespearian monologue in her native tongue. Now I don't speak Italian, but will never forget how I somehow didn't need to in that moment. As I sat watching with my fellow Students, I felt my soul becoming totally consumed in the moment, her performance bewitched me, and I could feel her passion even though I didn't understand her words on the cognitive level. She moved me in a way that is impossible to articulate with words; and it was beautiful.
It would be at the same venue studying another fantastic course, this time in singing, that I would have a similar experience when a Japanese girl performed a solo, a cappella, in her native language. Again I had the experience of being moved on a level much deeper than words, and when she finished her haunting song, I was moved to ask her how the words of the song translated into English. She said it was a legend from ancient Japan, a time and place which was steeped in myth and nature deities. The story tells of a girl who lives on a mountain with the animals, but hates and fears humans, shunning all contact with them. Then comes the day when a young man finds her, falls in love with her, and she with him; and thus her struggle begins...
An incredibly beautiful story, which somehow fitted exactly with the essence of what I felt, without my consciously knowing what the sounds she made actually meant.
I recently shot a corporate film at the newly extended Tate Modern Gallery in London; and whilst there I had the opportunity to view some exhibits and discuss them with staff and crew. I was struck by the myriad different things which we, as sentient and thinking beings, may regard as art. At how some kinds of expression can move one very deeply, while others leave us 'stone cold'. And perhaps above all, how it is all subjective and unique to the individual. Beauty, it seems, is indeed a joy in the eye of the beholder. I was also acutely aware of how every individual artist is providing us with a window into their soul, their life, and their experience with their work. There is truly something mystic and magical about the artist's sharing of themself, and the impact that sharing has on the beholder who comes into contact with it.
This is what I love about the arts. They have the capacity to open a portal to a higher and more beautiful existence. And that is why they are worth nurturing, loving, and defending in our materialistic world which knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
"I love all of the arts. I love motion pictures. I love stage. I love theatre."
Ray Bradbury.
It would be at the same venue studying another fantastic course, this time in singing, that I would have a similar experience when a Japanese girl performed a solo, a cappella, in her native language. Again I had the experience of being moved on a level much deeper than words, and when she finished her haunting song, I was moved to ask her how the words of the song translated into English. She said it was a legend from ancient Japan, a time and place which was steeped in myth and nature deities. The story tells of a girl who lives on a mountain with the animals, but hates and fears humans, shunning all contact with them. Then comes the day when a young man finds her, falls in love with her, and she with him; and thus her struggle begins...
An incredibly beautiful story, which somehow fitted exactly with the essence of what I felt, without my consciously knowing what the sounds she made actually meant.
I recently shot a corporate film at the newly extended Tate Modern Gallery in London; and whilst there I had the opportunity to view some exhibits and discuss them with staff and crew. I was struck by the myriad different things which we, as sentient and thinking beings, may regard as art. At how some kinds of expression can move one very deeply, while others leave us 'stone cold'. And perhaps above all, how it is all subjective and unique to the individual. Beauty, it seems, is indeed a joy in the eye of the beholder. I was also acutely aware of how every individual artist is providing us with a window into their soul, their life, and their experience with their work. There is truly something mystic and magical about the artist's sharing of themself, and the impact that sharing has on the beholder who comes into contact with it.
This is what I love about the arts. They have the capacity to open a portal to a higher and more beautiful existence. And that is why they are worth nurturing, loving, and defending in our materialistic world which knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
"I love all of the arts. I love motion pictures. I love stage. I love theatre."
Ray Bradbury.
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