"Before Midnight", Directing
A circus school performance which included Futures Studies thinking tools in its process.
The theme chosen by the students was DYSTOPIA, which opened the opportunity to create a safe space to discuss possibilities, nourish expression, and promote social bonds in a physical distance environment.
I quote Alethia Montero: “the future begins in the mind”, if Dystopia is one possible scenario, what are the others? Utopias, Brave New Worlds, Junk Cities … began to appear as concepts to open our imagination and to begin our exploration of these different scenarios in order to understand the ones we are choosing.
According to Dr. Nisha Sajnani “We can use specific plays, roles and stories as pathways to express thoughts and feelings about this time.” Then, why dystopia?
Confinement and Global Warming were the main reasons that pushed us to reflect upon the human impact resulting in a global catastrophe. When the students were asked about what they wanted to express with their performances, they mentioned: anxiety, sadness, optimism, a need to be heard, amongst others.
Social and physical distance challenged our skills to teach live arts to a group of students which were being present both virtually and physically. The feeling of being estranged from the community as well as school dropouts increased. Therefore, teamwork became a must, not only to perform but to take care of one other, to create connection and a sense of belonging.
It was a pleasant surprise to notice that providing them with a safe space, authorship and agency to create their ceremony and closure performance brought them back together as a group despite the isolation. Everyone came up with acts and video ideas, which allowed us to explore our scenario in a broader way, and with this, to play with a wider range of possibilities.
