jouvay! 'relaxation and observation', stories of popular cultural traditions, strategies for survival, rituals used to create a world, to make it, at least, operational and functional. “In a world as badly made as ours, there is only one road – rebellion.” Luis Bunuel
Jouvay followers know there is no doctrine, nothing to follow, no followers. Jouvay Institute is a consolidation of the 19th centu
ry energy which manifested itself on February 28, 1881 on Trinidad and Tobago, Jouvay Islands, in the form of The Kambule/Camboulay/Canboulay Riots. And in the Ramdilla, Trinidad Ramleela. This Jouvay Institution (circa 1881) or manifestation of 'awakening' is now consolidated in this transparent JPTP 'empty space' (since 2002) dedicated to the memory of Beryl McBurnie - The Ultimate Flag Woman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_McBurnie), Jean Coggins and Joe Talmana. Hall Community School Limited is the umbrella social business organisation and arts education enterprise that supports the non-profit activities of Lordstreet Theatre, Lordstreet Pictures, Vengeance Media, Playwrights Workshop Trinbago and Jouvay Institute. The school started in 1994 as an innovative primary learning centre on the small island of Tobago. The school supports any effort that facilitates creative learning, creative living, anything that allows harmony, freedom and keen observation of the egoic self. Jouvay Institute is a Lordstreet Arts Education Project of The Michael K. Hall Community School Limited.
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. . everyday is jouvay, especially Monday . . . Jouvay: a community awakening. Ramdilla: a community journeying. Hosay: a community mourning. Cultural reference points always shifting,
trying to dissolve (devour) themselves. The poetics of Jouvay are the poetics of emancipation. The poetics of Ramdilla are the poetics of emancipation. The poetics of Hosay are the poetics of emancipation.
“Simply from the sunlight,
simply from the sea. Yesterday is erased.” Derek Walcott
" . . . emancipate yourselves from mental slavery . . ." Bob Marley after Marcus Garvey
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During Jouvay, the pre-dawn opening of the carnival, revelers cover themselves in mud or paint and dance together to the strains of the steel orchestra (pan) and calypso (kaiso) and then dissolve at the first sunlight. This particular form of Jouvay may be considered a ritual of renewal, of regeneration, of transformation in which participants seem to transcend human form. This ritual can be seen as a potent element in Jouvay Process as a whole. But Jouvay Process can also be seen as the continual manifestation of an awakening in the everyday lives of people on the islands as they emancipate themselves from the 'new world'. This manifestation underscores a way of life that is reflected in the masquerade (mas/mask) of the carnival days. The Jouvay Popular Theatre Process (JPTP), a performance/production model, derived from musings on this Jouvay Process, was discovered out of an 'extempo' to describe and allow to dissolve, through per-form-ance values, the 'cliches' of awakening, the delusions of self-realization and group mobilization that are embedded in the emancipation performance traditions. Dedicated to dance legends Beryl McBurnie, Jean Coggins Dai Ailian, Julia Edwards, Champa Devi and Joe Talmana.
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Jamette Consciousness (jamettery) - a gateway or pathway or threshold to 'emancipation'
- to 'awaken' the latent wisdom and the acute sense of 'nowness' within by 'meditating' on and 'practicing' the 'Dance and Fight' techniques of the Gatkha Calinda 'batonnier' of the late 19th century underworld which gave rise to the Kambule/Camboulay/Canboulay Riots (1881), the Hosay Riots (1884) and the early village performances of the Ramdilla.
- to 'emancipate' ourselves individually and collectively from all forms of slavery through invoking the paradoxical energy fields of 'Resistance and Affirmation', 'Confrontation and Participation' nestled deep within and in the aboriginal land and sea (the old Taino-Kalinago island bridge).
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“In a world as badly made as ours, there is only one road – rebellion.” Luis Bunuel
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'ritual of the sunrise' - JOUVAY!
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Jouvay Process is an instinctive 'awakening' through which the 'mystical' and 'transcendental' energy of 'emancipation' travels from century to century 'finding the interior'. Jouvay Popular Theatre Process [JPTP] is the consolidation of the 'NOWNESS' of the 'mythopoeic' forces in the emancipation performance traditions into a 'green thicket of oblivion' through drama workshops 'exploring the interior landscape'.
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At the JOUVAY INSTITUTE we see the Gatkha Calinda (Stick Fight) martial arts school as rituals of play, combat, prayer, music, devotion, dance, meditation, games, drama. Everyone of our sessions begins with different aspects of the Calinda. Some of the techniques and approaches to this academy we have found so far in the school are:
1. Drunkin' Sailor.
2. Wine for yuh lover.
3. Mammie Pappie (The Transgressor).
5. Rod of Correction (Mastife).
6. Woman of the Birds.
7. Glass Menagerie.
8. Bongo (A Dance of Death).
9. The Woman of the World.
10. Marcus and Amy. There is a lot more to be discovered. This is work derived from musings on the age old emancipation performance traditions of 'Dance and Fight', the essence of mas according to Narrie Approu. In addition, this school of martial arts also sees in these traditions, platforms and locations for building approaches to deconstructing the illusion of 'the self' through per-form-ance. The Calinda is executed through what can be called The Gayelle System. This system may be made up of phases and approaches to 'finding', 'using' and 'mastering' appropriate weapons. The Gayelle System can be said to be made up of:
1. Prayer: Humming/Doption Mix on the Horizon [The Hummers]
2. Initiation: Weapon Circle (for beginners)
3. Warm up: Stretches and Salutations to the Sunrise
4. The Challenge: A call to War
5. Lavway: Song or Chant of Truth
6. Karay: Dance, Grandcharge
7. Bois! or Poui!: Fight or Attack
8. Pas: Bloodhole, Surrender
This system is according to a Louis McWilliams formulation. The Gatkha academy in the school is yet to be codified in detail. in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea. LITTLE GIDDING
(No. 4 of 'Four Quartets', Part V)
T.S. Eliot
- For JPTP talks and/or workshops
Call (868) 681-7475
