Contemporary

H
R Arts
C Theater and Performance Art
2nd Quarter
PPT #6
HOLY ROSARY COLLEGE OF
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S.Y. 2021 – 2022
Difference between Theater and Performance Art

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HOLY ROSARY COLLEGE OF
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• The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are
performed for an audience.[1] It is different from visual arts, which is when
artists use paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art
objects. Performing arts include a range of disciplines which are performed
in front of a live audience, including theatre, music, and dance.
• Theatre, music, dance and object manipulation, and other kinds of
performances are present in all human cultures. The history of
music and dance date to pre-historic times whereas circus skills date to at
least Ancient Egypt. Many performing arts are performed professionally.
Performance can be in purpose built buildings, such as theatres and opera
houses, on open air stages at festivals, on stages in tents such as circuses
and on the street.
• Live performances before an audience are a form of entertainment. The
development of audio and video recording has allowed for private
consumption of the performing arts.
• The performing arts often aims to express one's emotions and feelings. [

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Performers
• Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are
called performers. Examples of these include actors, comedians,
dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers.
Performing arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such
as songwriting, choreography and stagecraft.
• A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly
referred to as a triple threat.[3] Well-known examples of historical
triple threat entertainers include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy
Garland, Sammy Davis Jr.,[3] Michael
Jackson, Beyoncé, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Selena Gomez.
• Performers often adapt their appearance, such as
with costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting, and sound.
•

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Types
• Performing arts may include dance, music, opera, theatre and
musical theatre, magic, illusion, mime, spoken
word, puppetry, circus arts, and performance art.
• There is also a specialized form of fine art, in which the
artists perform their work live to an audience. This is called
performance art. Most performance art also involves some form
of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often
referred to as a plastic art during the Modern dance era.

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Theater
• Theatre is the branch of performing arts concerned with acting
out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of
speech, gesture, music, dance, sound, and spectacle. Any one
or more of these elements is considered performing arts. In
addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays,
theater takes such forms as plays, musicals, opera,
ballet, illusion, mime, classical Indian dance, kabuki, mummers'
plays, improvisational theatre, comedy, pantomime, and non-
conventional or contemporary forms like postmodern
theatre, postdramatic theatre, or performance art.
•

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Dance
• In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to
human movement, typically rhythmic and to music, used as a form of
audience entertainment in a performance setting. Definitions of what
constitutes dance are dependent
on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic, and moral constraints and
range from functional movement (such as folk dance) to codified,
virtuoso techniques such as ballet.[5]
• There is one another modern form of dance that emerged in 19th-
20th century with the name of Free dance style. This form of dance
was structured to create a harmonious personality which included
features such as physical and spiritual freedom. Isadora Duncan was
the first female dancer who argued about "woman of future" and
developed novel vector of choreography using Nietzsche’s idea of
"supreme mind in free mind".[6]
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• Dance is a powerful impulse, but the art of dance is that impulse
channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes
intensely expressive and that may delight spectators who feel
no wish to dance themselves. These two concepts of the art of
dance—dance as a powerful impulse and dance as a skillfully
choreographed art practiced largely by a professional few—are
the two most important connecting ideas running through any
consideration of the subject. In dance, the connection between
the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and
neither can exist without the other.[5]
• Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who
practices this art is called a choreographer.

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Music
• Music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm,
and dynamic to create sound. It can be performed using a
variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres such
as folk, jazz, hip hop, pop, and rock, etc. As an art form, music
can occur in live or recorded formats, and can
be planned or improvised.
• As music is a protean art, it easily coordinates with words for
songs as physical movements do in dance. Moreover, it has a
capability of shaping human behaviors as it impacts our
emotions.[7]

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What are the characteristics of Performance Arts
• Performance Art is live.
• Performance Art has no rules or guidelines. It is art because the
artist says it is art. It is experimental.
• Performance Art is not for sale. It may, however, sell admission
tickets and film rights.
• Performance Art may be comprised of painting or sculpture (or
both), dialogue, poetry, music, dance, opera, film footage,
turned on television sets, laser lights, live animals and fire. Or
all of the above. There are as many variables as there are artists.

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• Performance Art is a legitimate artistic movement. It has longevity
(some performance artists, in fact, have rather large bodies of work)
and is a degreed course of study in many post-secondary institutions.
• Dada, Futurism, the Bauhaus and the Black Mountain College all
inspired and helped pave the way for Performance Art.
• Performance Art is closely related to Conceptual Art. Both Fluxus
and Body Art are types of Performance Art.
• Performance Art may be entertaining, amusing, shocking or
horrifying. No matter which adjective applies, it is meant to
be memorable.
•

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History of Theater/Performing Arts
• But, the performances we see today are mere products of the
cultures that have influenced the country through the years.
Let’s take a look at how the history of Philippine theatre has
evolved

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• Pre-colonial Time

During the pre-historic times, theater in the Philippines was

in the form of indigenous rituals, verbal jousts or games, or
songs and dances to praise gods. According to early
chronicles, pre-historic dramas consisted of three elements –
myth, mimesis, and spectacle.

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• These mimetic performances mostly dramatized primitive
rituals and epic poetry about deities and mythical legends,
where the spirit of the deities would seemingly possess a
catalonan (priest) or babaylan (priestess).

During this entranced state, the priest or priestess would

consume the sacrificial offering, which could be in the form
of a pig, chicken, rice, wine, or nuts.
"…seemed to shoot flames from her eyes; her hair stood on
end, a fearful sight to those beholding, and she uttered words
of arrogance and superiority." – Juan de Plasencia, 1590
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• Spanish Regime

When the Spaniards reached our shores, they used dramas

such as a pedagogical tool to influence the pagan tribes and
teach them about Christianity and religion.

Another important form of theater popularized during the

Spanish colonization is the comedia, also known as moro-
moro, linambay, or arakyo. It’s a play in verse that portrays
the lives, loves, and wars of moors and Christians.
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• Moro-Moro is a secular comedy that dramatizes the war
between Christians and Muslims through the forbidden love
between the prince and the princess. The comedy is resolved
with the non-Christian being converted to Christianity, or
through his or her death, immediately followed by his or her
resurrection

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• Comedias were normally performed in the pueblos or village
centers to attract more people to the foundation of its regime.
The comedia can last anywhere from 3 to 15 hours through a
series of performances. The first Filipino comedia was
performed in Latin and Spanish by Fr. Vicente Puche in Cebu
in 1598.

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• On the other hand, a zarzuela is a form of musical theater that
combines spoken word and song that celebrates various Catholic
liturgical feasts. Jugar Con Fuego by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri was
the first zarzuela introduced in the country in late 1878 or early 1879.

By August 17, 1893, Teatro Zorilla, the home of zarzuela, was

inaugurated.
Throughout the 333 years of the Spanish regime, the Philippines was
widely influenced by their culture, tradition, and religion.
Today, zarzuelas and comedias are still being performed, albeit with
other cultural influences and contemporary touches.

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• American Colonization

When American colonial rule was established, the United

States introduced the American way of life through
education, media, and language. Their influence on
Philippine theatre is most apparent through
the bodabil (vaudeville) and the plays and dramas staged or
translated into English.

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• In 1898, the first bodabil was produced by the Manila
Dramatic Guild for the sole purpose of entertaining American
soldiers and other Americans residing in Manila. It was also
the first theatrical performance since the revolution.

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• The bodabil is not a straight-up play. The theatrical
performance is, in fact, a mix of songs, dances, comedy skits,
and even magical performances. Local audiences bought-in
and productions soon found themselves becoming
entertainment spectacles that can be transported from one
town to the next. Not long after, the bodabil was interjected
into comedias and zarzuelas, as intermission numbers known
as jamborees.

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• In the 1930s, the country was introduced to Broadway theatre
or stage plays through the westernized education that was
provided in most private schools for privileged children.
Shakespearean tragedies and comedies, as well as western
classics, were performed in the original English or English
adaptation.

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• The Japanese Occupation

By the 1940s, when the Japanese took over the Philippines

from the Americans, movie actors and actresses could no
longer appear in films, as the Japanese confiscated all film
equipment. However, the comedia, zarzuela,
and bodabil remained in the country as forms of
entertainment and expression.

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• Eventually, the bodabil evolved to become stage shows or
variety shows with a short melodrama at the end to
accommodate the actors and actresses who moved their craft
to bodabil and theatre. Venues such as the Manila Grand
Opera House and the Savoy Theatre became homes
of bodabil.

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• After the war, movies returned to popularity, and the bodabil
era slowly lost its luster. Stage shows became small, cheap
performances held in open-air stages in the provinces. Sadly,
the bodabil deteriorated decades later to become burlesque
and strip shows held in cheap theatres around American
military bases.

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• Philippine Theatre as We Know It Today

After the Japanese occupation, the Philippine theatre has evolved to

become an amalgamation of the various influences such that of
the zarzuela, comedia, bodabil, and western classics. Theatre was
largely performed in English during the time, as it became a large part
of classroom education. Meanwhile, zarzuelas such as “Ang Kiri,”
“Dalagang Bukid,” and “Paglipas ng Dilim” became well-known
beyond their regions

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• By the 1950s, theatre had moved out of classrooms and the
concept of paying for a ticket to see a theatrical performance
emerged. This “legitimate” theatre was held in closed theaters
– these became events in themselves, not just mere parts of a
celebration or religious ritual.

During this time, playwrights such as Severino Montano,

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, and Alberto S. Florentino honed their
crafts and contributed to the development of performing arts
in the Philippines.
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• Through the years, Philippine theatre groups have staged numerous
plays in both English and Filipino, be it written by a Western or local
playwright. Spanish culture and traditions largely influence
performing arts in the Philippines, but the contemporary style is
borrowed from the Americans. Classic shows such as The Westside
Story and Sound of Music made waves in recent years when it took
the local stage. This year, The Theatre at Solaire presents The Lion
King, an internationally renown production set to wow Philippine
audiences.

When it comes to theatre and performing arts, Filipinos are never far
behind
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