ISTA Taps 2019: Kuala Lumpur

September 19-September 22 / Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

At the assembly where we went over the first few months of school, I said that my most memorable experience at ISTA was making new friends. What I said there was true, I made so many friends and learned so much about them, but there was so much else I wanted to talk about. It is truly incredible that we managed to learn as much as we did in such a small amount of time, because three days is really not that long. In those few days, I explored lighting and staging, different approaches to theatre, ways to incorporate everything I had learned into practical and basic tasks and more.

Day 1 – Thursday, September 19

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, we had another long drive to the hotel where we dropped off our bags before heading to the mall next door. We met with some of Nehe’s old friends who we ended up spending the day with before going back to the hotel for dinner.

Day 2 –  Friday, September 20

Our first day of the workshops began with us having breakfast along with some other schools at our hotel and then climbing onto buses for our journey to the school. There, we were greeted by big drums and an assembly where we got to do some group exercises to get to know each other and get used to the space. Afterwards, we broke into our separate ensembles. Mine was led by Darren Scully where I was joined by my classmates Disara and Anargi. Instead of sticking with the people I knew already, I chose to put myself out there as much as I could and to show that I wasn’t afraid of new things or new people.

Our leader, Darren, focused on physical theatre, something I hadn’t explored, but ended up enjoying and using way more than I expected. We partnered up with people and practiced a type of trust fall where we fall into our partners arms and they proceed to roll us onto the floor where we stop in a plank position. After doing this a few times we moved onto holding each other in the air with jumping and holding techniques. These kinds of movements came in handy in some of our later workshops at ISTA as well as many back home.

After our workshop, everyone gathered in the auditorium where we watched a Malaysian shadow puppet piece. I don’t think any of us knew what the characters were saying, let alone what the story was but we enjoyed it and got to ask questions and look behind the curtain afterwards.

Day 3 – Saturday, September 21

Our second day at ISTA we continued what we had learned the day before, but we also got into groups to begin a larger piece where we’d incorporate as much as we could from what we had learned. We would present these pieces on the last day once we had got through everything we would learn. Later on, we split into different groups where we learned about the last woman to be hanged and her life before, as well as the details regarding the crime that led her to her execution. We created short skits of what we thought happened and had fun using different techniques and watching the other groups’.

At some point in the day, we had a lighting masterclass in the auditorium and with a different teacher. He taught and demonstrated a few different lighting techniques and what they are used for, then split us into smaller groups where he turned off the lights and gave us some flashlights to create a setup using different styles and techniques to bring focus to different objects. While I found this masterclass very interesting and fun, I haven’t been able to use much of what I’ve learned from it due to an unfortunate lack of opportunity and materials.

The second performance we saw was a very beautiful, but very slow Japanese Buto piece. I remember trying to stay awake to watch what was happening even though I was incredibly tired. the fluid movements, extravagant costumes and intriguing masks made the performance all the better, but not enough to keep we awake.

Day 4 – Sunday, September 22

We spent a while perfecting our pieces. In ours we had a lot of the jumps and catches we had been taught earlier as well as a story or at least common idea throughout the performance. We did a few of the fun activities we had done the other days like lightly jumping to the beat of a song while in a square, turning every 4 beats, trying to keep a softball in the air for over 20 hits and running from corner to corner, randomly, with mini commands in between and to the rhythm of Woodkid’s “Run Boy Run”. We got to perform at the end where we also saw everyone elses pieces, all of which were very different but somehow also similar.

Our second and final masterclass was very interesting. We began by walking around the room with our eyes closed, acting as different elements and substances: fire, earth, clay, water, seaweed, etc. He then went on to tell us a bit about masks, the differences you might find and the general history of them. Next, he showed us four different elemental masks and asked for eight volunteers to wear them and try to embody the element as best as we could. I got the mask that embodied water and I ended up challenging someone wearing one that represented fire. I’m not sure what the purpose of it all was, but I think it was fun and cool and I’m glad I did it, even if all I left with was some basic knowledge of masks.

After we left ISKL, we headed to a nearby mall where we hung out for a few hours. I got rather bored and ended up having bubble tea, checking out a music shop and eating donuts. Shortly after we left for the airport which was accompanied by another long, hot drive and a long, boring wait at the airport, where we had Starbucks and some food.

My time leaving KL was spent remembering the friends and memories I made. I enjoyed the trip far more than I thought I would and came away with more knowledge than I knew I could possess. ISTA Taps was an experience I will cherish and never forget, and hopefully, one I will be able to revisit soon.