Zdravo!
Belgrade is a picturesque city. Our hotel sits on a large traffic circle through which trolleys and busses and cars come careening with little regard for one another. A few blocks down the main shootoff of the roundabout you’ll come to a large plaza with a statue of a man riding a horse. A common meeting place. The subsequent blocks are pedestrian only and well used. It seems that at any time of day (and we have checked it out a almost every hour of the 24 hour cycle) there are people roaming. During the day the cafes fill up as the locals sit for an espresso to fuel their continuous, leisurely stroll. We stop for a sip of water from the communal fountain and look at watercolors of Belgrade in the rain.
Over the last few days we have seen and learned an overwhelming amount of really cool history, politics, acting techniques, new words, names, foods, and more.
The fortress of Belgrade has been the site of bloodshed for eons. Fighting between tribes, clans, empires, nations, and any other manner of human organization has occurred here since the beginning of history. We toured the fortress with narration from Dah Teatar, the theater company with which we have been doing our workshop. They shared their own experience with the space and how they have used performance to try to “cleanse” it of its bloody history.
Back towards the hotel and up a small hill you’ll find the Parliament building, St. Mark’s church, and various parks dotted and criss-crossed with perfectly pruned tulip gardens. We stopped at the foot of the stairs up to the front door of parliament for story time with one of the leaders of Otpor!, the revolutionary group that was instrumental in the ousting of Milosevic.
In our workshop with Dah Teatar we have been exercising our budding skills as thespian-activists. Practicing everything from pilates to speaking text while barking like a dog to improvisational and stage presence skills, our workshop days have been geared towards the acquisition of performance techniques for sending a message.
In addition we have heard lectures from Deanna, a co-founder of Dah Teatar and a performer of many works of political theater. Also a lecture from Zoe who is a performer for women’s rights and the leader of Queer Belgrade.
Our days and nights have been stuffed full to the brim of new and outrageous adventures and more knowledge than you can shake a book at. Check out the attached pics for a little taste of your own. Feel free to live vicariously!
In the words of Lauren Traub ’14, “Deuces!”
