TEACHING MASK

by Rita Grimaldi

Last month I was privileged to do a presentation on mask for the Indigenous Storytelling course at Trent University in Peterborough. My masks came with me as well as materials to demonstrate how I make masks.

v  The Body Follows The Face

After talking about the process of making masks, I began to show pictures of myself performing in mask. As I talked about how the body will follow the identity of the masked face. I said,

 “Here I am in a young girl mask. I am standing tall and straight in the stance of a young girl.”

“And here I am in the mask of an old woman, telling the story of Granny Shelock. See how I have the physicality of an old woman.”

"And finally, here I am telling a Billy goat story and kicking up my goat heels.”

I was fascinated to see these pictures. I was fascinated to see evidence that what I wanted to say to the students was really true. The body follows the face. And if a mask transforms the face, the body will align itself to the transformed face.

v  The Mask Storytelling

I performed two stories. The first is a coyote story that I have told so often that it is embedded in the history of my coyote mask.

Then, preparing to tell the story of Mother Bear and her adopted human boy cub, I read from our four-week blog. After that I told the story. My body filled with the energy of Mother Bear. And when the boy cub spoke, it was filled with his fear and courage.

v  What I Wanted To Share With The Students

Along with the practical instruction of mask making, I wanted to share the important message that working in mask is a form of storytelling. It allows the self to become another - another of any age, of any animal, of any degree of power and strength. I hope that some part of this message came to the students. One said to me as I left, “That was a very good presentation.”

v  Postscript - Seeing The Student’s Perform

Two weeks after my teaching session, I went to see the students perform in mask. I was so pleased to see that all students had made and decorated masks. The masks were painted to go with the stories they performed.

There was a blue rabbit mask to transform the wearer into a rabbit.

A gold mask with a spider web drawn on to it transformed a young man into a supernatural being.

Perhaps my favorite masked beings were the young women wearing simple deer masks. These masks were a simple beige colour and along with the masks, the performers wore wristlets and anklets of beige fake-fur. The deer movements were beautifully danced – so light on the feet – so light on the ground – that even without sound the movements told us that these were real dear going about the forest.

For me it was so fine to have contributed to the production of these masks and thereby to the experience of these 19 students transforming into other beings and animals.

January 14, 2015

Rita can be contacted at peterboroughstorytellers@cogeco.ca

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