Re: RAT restating the obvious

[Alfred Vitale <alfredvitale@yahoo.com>]

--- Ahoodwink@aol.com wrote:

> OK - I'm sure I'm going to sound like a crusty old
> coot here - but I've been 
> to "performances" like this, and I LOATHE them. 
> Good theater is craft.  Good 
> ritual is craft, too.  

the question posed was "how does one create a ritual
of chaos?"

i shudder to think that chaos needs to be crafted. at
least by the participants. 

> Neither just "happens." 
> There's a lot of thought and 
> planning and structure involved in taking an
> audience or ritual participants 
> on a journey.  Ritual isn't usually general.  It's
> to celebrate something in 
> particular, bring closure, take the group on a
> SPECIFIC transformational 
> journey.  

but does it have to be scripted? some rituals involve
the mere suggestion that the space is divided into
quadrants, each with its own principles and auras and
atmosphere...the participants interpret these as they
traverse them. some people find this to be the case
with masks. atavistic invocations are much more
effective when they happen. 

the organization should craft a structure, if only to
act as a stimulus, but i have been to numerous rituals
that were spontaneously created by the random
assortment of participants. 

> Plays are, hopefully, also about something
> specific.  So both 
> events have to be laid out with care.  In my
> experience, the more care one 
> takes in the planning, the more the event itself is
> likely to be take on a 
> larger significance than you ever dreamed of - but
> it doesn't happen by 
> accident, and it isn't random.

i agree that theater and focused performance with a
specific goal in mind can sometimes be much better
when carefully orchestrated...but i find that
audience/participants are extremely varied and random
and unpredictable. why not set up a structure that
syntehesizes their unpredictability rather than
presents a template? 
 
> In good rituals, also, people go into vulnerable
> states.  A responsible 
> ritual leader must be alert and aware, not lost in
> "I'm a God" ego bullshit.  

totally agree there. i think there should rarely be
just "one ritual leader"...i think that there are
catalysts and participants...the catalysts need to be
very sensitive to what's going on and act/react
accordingly. it really does suck when there's an ego
thing happening. 

> If the leader has worked 
> well, the participant may have the feeling that the
> ritual was spontaneous, 
> just as the best theater SEEMS unplanned.  

this is true for sure. the failure of rituals usually
lies in the difficult nature of having an audience
PARTicipate actively. some rituals are much more
audience-driven, and i find those to be the most
enjoyable but most difficult to pull off. why is this?
i think the question is important...some come to a
ritual and feel frightened about becoming "PART" of
it. i don't think it's their failure, i think it's a
failure of culture. but hey...aren't we here to change
that inability get absorbed in ritual/theater? 
i guess i always thought of ritual as theater created
by the audience, rather than by the performers. 

> But come
> on, folks, you all know 
> how much work goes into effective and specific - as
> opposed to random and 
> vague - theater.

i also know that i have seen rituals crash terribly
because more time was spent planning than doing. i
believe there is a happy medium somewhere, however.
i've been involved with the anarchist community here
in philly, and i have seen meetings get
over-agenda-ized to the point where accomplishment
becomes a distant hope rather than an immediate act. 
organization may be neccessary at times, but there
still needs to be action. 

i think of music here...coltrane played great
improvisations differently depending on the others
involved...great craft, but not orchestrated in
advance. with ritual, if your audience is willing to
wear the mask, remove the garment, play pretend, or
get absorbed...the "craft" of enjoyment and pleasure
should come out and present its contribution to the
ritual. this, i think, is the task of the
ritualist...provide a participatory ritual rather than
just show a ritual TO someone. i trust in people's
innate need to enjoy themselves. 

excuse my rambling, though...i'm at work, which means
i do NOTHING other than goof off.

alfred



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