Teaching Artists Scott Lilly and Mary Cinadr have introduced guiding questions to help the students learn how to use Tableaux to tell a story. They ask, how can the students tap into their observation skills, emotions, and understanding of historical and cultural context, so that when they view art or hear stories about history they can better understand it, and then embody that same art in a fresh way, via tableau?
In this photograph, students are creating a tableau based on a story about a family being split apart when one relative went to Buffalo and the other to Albany. When Scott or Mary tapped a student on the shoulder they came to life and spoke to the audience as if they were the character they were depicting in the tableau. Some of their guiding questions were: How can we harness our breath in a way that makes us brave? How can I respond, rather than react, as an artist to what has come before and what is to come? How do I use the body and the breath to become aware of how things affect me (intellectually, spiritually & physically)?
Some of their guiding questions the teaching artists used in preparing the students for their tableau performances were: How can we harness our breath in a way that makes us brave? How can I respond, rather than react, as an artist to what has come before and what is to come? How do I use the body and the breath to become aware of how things affect me (intellectually, spiritually & physically)?
In this lesson, the students tapped into their courage via pre-tableau breathwork and embodied the emotional truth of the people in the story via gesture and facial expression. The Teaching Artists are proud of the way the students took chances to translate this moment in history, on a stage, and in front of their peers.
