Breathless for Bunraku
As part of our regular class activities, we were given the chance to actually perform our versions of any type of puppet play. Our group chose to present a bunraku with Pinoy humor-flavored English dialogue. Making the puppets was a crucial part because we do not really have the money to create exquisite-looking and well-detailed puppets like what the Japanese do. Luckily, we managed to rummage our closets for old kimonos and pieces of paper to stuff the puppets' bodies with. These, with lots of tape and patience, resulted to our improvised puppets.
The day of the performance proved to be quite challenging as well. We had to wear black clothing (cover ourselves up completely) and tie the puppets to our bodies. I was literally breathless for the art because we were situated in an enclosed room with no proper ventilation. Setting this aside, I had a blast manipulating my male puppet; I got to dance without embarrassing myself. I also appreciated the authentic puppeteers' efforts in manipulating the puppets; you really have to execute exaggerated movements to convey the character's actions. I
The day of the performance proved to be quite challenging as well. We had to wear black clothing (cover ourselves up completely) and tie the puppets to our bodies. I was literally breathless for the art because we were situated in an enclosed room with no proper ventilation. Setting this aside, I had a blast manipulating my male puppet; I got to dance without embarrassing myself. I also appreciated the authentic puppeteers' efforts in manipulating the puppets; you really have to execute exaggerated movements to convey the character's actions. I