Polish theater stages performance on Armenian Genocide (video) May 27, 2015 - 13:58 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - With their new work, “Armine, Sister”, Teatr ZAR, the resident company of Poland’s famous Grotowski Institute, evokes what happened in 1915 when the Turks killed more than a million Armenians in Anatolia — a genocide that Turkey still denies, SF Weekly reports. Through singing, movement, and metaphors, “Armine, Sister” reflects on the world’s silence on the near extermination. The piece, which has been wildly successful in Europe, comes to the San Francisco International Art Festival (SFIAF) for its U.S. premiere. Seeing it with others is a powerful act, says Jaroslaw Fret, the artistic director of Teatr ZAR. “In the same moment we are creating one small community and we all are witnessing something that does not belong to our experience, but to humankind,” said Fret. “We try to reduce our ignorance.” Teatr ZAR started traveling to Georgia and Armenia in 1999. For years, they have been working on polyphonic singing, but for this piece, they have trained in Armenian traditions. Along with new musical ideas, “Armine, Sister” differs from past work by adding people outside the company for the first time, such as Istanbul-born Aram Kerovpyan, master-singer of the Armenian Cathedral of Paris, along with other singers from Turkey as well as from Iran and Armenian. Fret sees the incorporating of Armenian singing as a way to bear witness — to create a sort of monument to those who were killed as well as those who survived. The group, which made its Northern California debut in 2011 (also as part of the SFIAF) with Gospels of Childhood Triptych, is known for its powerful and evocative pieces, incorporating music and movement without text. Paige Rogers, co-founder of the Cutting Ball Theatre in the Tenderloin, was so enamored of their style that she brought the whole cast of the Cutting Ball’s production this season of Antigone to Poland for a two-week training workshop with movement and music coaches Doing theater is all about powerfully affecting people, Fret thinks. “It’s like a political stone thrown into the water and next you see the circles,” he said. “You see the waves in the audiences and in the other artists.” Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. U.S. welcomes efforts to define Armenia-Azerbaijan border The United States welcomes efforts to define the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says Vedant Patel. Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. |