The Colonial Presents the Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing
Pittsfield – The Colonial Theatre will present the Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing on June 14 at 8PM. The performance will conclude a residency which includes the monks’ participation in several community events, such as in-school assemblies, interfaith lectures and the creation of a sand painting in The Colonial Theatre’s lobby. Tickets for the performance range from $25-$35 and can be purchased in person at The Colonial Theatre Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10-5, Saturday 10-2, by calling (413) 997-4444 or 24/7 online at www.TheColonialTheatre.orgHospitality Sponsor: Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health
Community Partners: Think Pink and The BARKA Foundation
“remarkable...the music and the dance invoke sacred ecstasy.” – The New York Times
The Mystical Arts of Tibet tour is co-produced by Richard Gere Productions and the Drepung Loseling Institute, the North American Seat of Drepung Loseling Monastery, India. The performance features multiphonic singing, in which Drepung Loseling monks simultaneously intone three notes of a chord. The monks utilize traditional instruments, including ten-foot-long dung-chen horns, drums, bells, cymbals and gyaling trumpets. Rich brocade costumes and masked dances add to the exotic splendor. On past tours, the Drepung Loseling monks have performed with Paul Simon, Natalie Merchant, the Beastie Boys and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, to name a few. Endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the tour has three basic purposes: to make a contribution to world peace and healing, to generate greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan civilization and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee community in India.
Two of the monks’ recordings achieved top-10 listings on the New Age charts: Tibetan Sacred Temple Music (Shining Star Productions) and Sacred Tibetan Chants (Music and Arts Program of America, Inc.). Their most recent recording, Compassion (Milennia Music), pairs them with the Abbey of Gethsemani Schola in an encounter of Gregorian chant with Tibetan multiphonic singing. Their music was featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of the film Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt (Columbia Pictures) and they performed with Philip Glass in Lincoln Center in the live presentation of his award-winning score to the Martin Scorsese film Kundun (Disney).
In response to the September 11 tragedies, the monks had the honor of creating special mandalas and leading prayer ceremonies and meditations in New York and Washington. Organized in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution, these events were dedicated to the healing and protection of America. The Loseling monks have twice been featured artists at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, representing Tibetan culture, and in July 2003 enjoyed the rare honor of representing Tibet in the Cultural Olympiad of Greece, a pre-Olympic celebration of World Sacred Music and Dance. For this event the monks toured Greece and performed at venues that included the Acropolis and ancient Olympia, the historic site of the original Olympics.
Tibetan Mandala Creation
From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. To date the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe.
Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning sacred cosmogram. These cosmograms can be created in various media, such as watercolor on canvas, wood carvings, and so forth. However, the most spectacular and enduringly popular are those made from colored sand. In general all mandalas have outer, inner and secret meanings. On the outer level they represent the world in its divine form; on the inner level they represent a map by which the ordinary human mind is transformed into enlightened mind; and on the secret level they depict the primordially perfect balance of the subtle energies of the body and the clear light dimension of the mind. The creation of a sand painting is said to effect purification and healing on these three levels.
The mandala sand painting begins with an opening ceremony, during which the lamas consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness. This is done by means of chanting, music and mantra recitation, and will be held on Tuesday, June 10 at 12:00PM. The lamas begin the exhibit by drawing an outline of the mandala on the wooden platform. On the following days they lay the colored sands. Each monk holds a traditional metal funnel called a chakpur while running a metal rod on its grated surface. Vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid onto the platform.
Traditionally most sand mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor for the impermanence of life. The sands are swept up and placed in an urn; to fulfill the function of healing, half is distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while the remainder is carried to a nearby body of water, where it is deposited. The waters then carry the healing blessing to the ocean, and from there it spreads throughout the world for planetary healing. The closing ceremony will be held on Sunday, June 15 at 12:00PM.
Community Sand Painting
The Breast Health Team of the American Cancer Society will be participating in the weekly residency by creating a community sand painting at the Colonial during the week of June 10th–15th. The Breast Health Team’s sand painting will represent a collection of images significant to breast cancer survivors in the community. The Tibetan monks will instruct these community members on the techniques of creating these spiritually inspired designs. The Breast Health Team invites breast cancer survivors and their families to participate in the creation of the community sand painting between the hours of 9AM and 5PM, Wednesday, June 11 through Saturday, June 14.
"The Mystical Arts of Tibet program is designed to promote world healing. The power of spirituality to achieve personal healing has led naturally to this link with breast cancer survivors who have experienced this power in their lives. We are thrilled to have their participation in this community sand painting creation," says Colonial Executive Director David Fleming.
During the creation, there will be two exhibits on view in the lobby of the theater; “The Hair Project” and “Casting the Heroine.” “The Hair Project” is the inspiration of photographer Julie W. McCarthy. It is a photo essay that explores how women feel about their hair from the perspective of hair lost to chemotherapy. Each woman, different in ages and ethnic backgrounds, is represented in a black and white portrait. A written statement describing that woman’s experience in her own words accompanies each portrait. “Casting the Heroine,” a workshop presented by Connie Caldes Mah, is an exhibit of breast casts created by breast cancer survivors. These casts were meant to reflect personal healing and to empower the individuals and group of women that created them.
Some of the sand from the Breast Health Team’s sand painting will be brought to the opening ceremony of the American Cancer Society’s Relay-for-Life, which takes place Friday, June 20 at Burbank Park on Onota Lake in Pittsfield. In addition, sand will be brought to the 5th Annual Think Pink Art Exhibit. This event is a call to artists to express their creativity around breast health and to raise awareness about breast health during the month of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Think Pink event will be held this year at The Colonial Theatre, October 3, 2008 from 5:30PM to 7:30PM.
For more information about Think Pink and the Breast Health Team’s community sand painting schedule, contact the Colonial at (413) 448-8084 x14, the ticket office at (413) 997-4444 or online at www.TheColonialTheatre.org. Additional contacts: Connie Mah, Co-Chair Think Pink (413) 464-9154; Linda Ruberto, Co-Chair Think Pink (413) 442-8472; Marie Barzousky, Exec. Director AMC (413) 445-2416.
Call for Flags!
In Tibet, the tradition of hanging flags began more than 2,000 years ago. Today, people around the world have adopted the custom of hanging flags to commemorate special events and to transmit blessings. In honor of the Mystical Arts of Tibet performance at the Colonial on June 14, the Colonial invites local schools and homeschool networks to create their own Peace Flags to display in the Colonial’s lobbies during the week long residency. For more information, visit the Colonial’s website at http://www.TheColonialTheatre.org/education.html
