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my life is dedicated to the study of art
and design and the practice of it and I
have one big question what is it that
allowed one artist to achieve astounding
Fame and success while other artists
struggle in obscurity
was it the creator's innate talent was
she merely born more gifted was it her
borrow me or wasn't her methodology her
know-how techniques and strategies that
she employed when it comes to artists
most of us tend to focus only on talent
and we tend to ignore the hard methods
that she employed there are other still
who would only look for methodology and
try to deny even the idea of talent I
believe methodology is essential it is
required for lasting success however
that doesn't mean talent is out the door
talent has to be talked about especially
when we're starting to discuss the
greatest of the great in art and design
today I want to practice this I want to
explore this topic with you through the
life and works of some energy you
profane a man lovingly dubbed the father
of Burmese theatre he happens to be also
my great-grandfather and we have here
with us today his youngest daughter
Donna in USA you may know her as Amy
pose a loophole Sonny is considered to
be the greatest
nimma actor and dancer ever in fact no
other theatrical performer from this
country has been able to achieve the
same level of cultural and historical
impact in the world the well singer a
renowned historian of Asian theatre says
that he was the star who out shown all
others while many inda of his generation
enjoyed fame briefly
pulsing was still dancing at the age of
family - and he literally danced himself
to death during a performance in 1952
it's a little bit exaggerated he didn't
die on put on stage he died at home
shortly after her performance let's have
a look at some of the methodologies that
he employed who Paul saying was born in
a small village so far away that back
then
it took a seven-hour boat ride from
petain he was just a village boy named
mountai and Monta and his friends they
learned how to dance in the rice fields
not at a dance school and they performed
at local shampoo ceremonies innovation
ceremony for young buddhist voice now a
month I wanted to go far beyond that
everyone question him the friends
protested why would anyone come and see
a show by a some village boy just
because he started calling himself PO
same same by the way means diamonds in
Burmese he gave himself a name claiming
that he was worthless body weight in
diamonds but mountai had what we call
today a design inside a niche if you
will naman theater back then was
performed within a circle that's drawn
on the ground it's actually a lot like
the stage that were on today there were
great things about it but the
disadvantage was that during the raining
season which can last up to six months
no one can really perform and the people
of Myanmar had nothing to go and look at
Monte knew that in order to draw the
crowds they didn't have to be the big
dance company they just had to build to
fill that void he saw these small puppet
theaters call yo day which was performed
on a miniature stage he adapted that
idea and he designed staging for the
first time one shelter for the dancers
and one shelter for the audience what
when he did that it changed everything
all of a sudden for an entire raining
season the people of nuuma had no one to
go and watch
but them just like that simple that
shelters were built and suddenly a star
was born
mm uh Theater changed forever there was
also strategy to the kind of stories
that he told his product if you will me
my culture back then was deeply rooted
in Buddhism and Buddhist Ebert's had a
profound influence on what was okay and
what wasn't okay who will sing himself
was told by a sea otter that when he
died he would end up as a beta or in the
air essentially told that he'll go to
hell
dancing it's not a favorable activity
back then it was frowned upon but who
Paul say was a devout Buddhist and he
had an idea in order to make dancing and
making merit work altogether he would
adapt stories from denying others and
even though the Buddha stories if you
will when he did that it did two things
first he achieve endorsement from the
Abbott's many of them actually started
coming to his shows second and this is
really important he introduced to
Myanmar people something they already
love and respect it but he delivered it
in a different way experts of hit-making
and experts in design such as Raymond
Loewy and Derek Thompson caused us a
familiar surprise it's a DNA found in
every great hip be it an object a story
a song or a film you see every single
one of us were both neophobia
and Neolithic at the same time what that
means is we love things that feel new
but at the same time were very afraid of
things that feel too new every hip in
history tend to manage these two
emotions in perfect balance
we both a also knew that your product is
nothing if you can't get it to people so
he came up with what you might call a
distribution strategy say Mohammed
Atta's High Commission two sets of
staging two sets of the cost
and two-thirds of everything here you
might see the image of the elaborate
sets that he designed first thing here I
want to point out to you is that
although this is far more complex he's
still sticking to the two-stage system
that he designed the umbrella-like
structure was for the audience and the
rectangular structure was for the
performers he used warehouses all over
Miami and because he had two sets of
construction he would set the he would
start begin building the construction in
the next town while they were still
performing in the first this made sure
he was able to perform shelves at a
ferocious pace that was unmatched
historians conclude that because of that
system the Permian spectrum were exposed
to more live theater than anyone else in
the world now these are all his methods
these are things that you can go home
and implement into your business today
that is what a methodology is so it's
time I introduce you to one of his
talents his uncanny ability in casting
the story goes that one evening the
dance troupe was arguing regarding who
should be the king in the next play who
posing as oldest son was arguing that
pulsing should be king after all he's
the star and they're called same Ahana
band that's when opposing walked in and
said that neither pull sane or any other
thing is by default King the story is
king making story King means that it
begins by putting the right person in
the right role he knew this and he was
so committed to it that he would do it
even if it meant he had to play the
villain or he had to forego the acting
role altogether he had an extraordinary
talent and courage when it comes to
putting the right person in the right
role now this talent of his will get
tested
in 1941 Japan invaded niyama the first
part of the attack was swift and deadly
jong-hong fell in one day the posting
family had to escape the DDA as the
fighting continued suited stories of
unspeakable wartime atrocities including
mass rape murder in torture you have to
understand that Japanese soldiers at the
time many of them were also teenagers
they too were inflicted by war they
suddenly found themselves in a very
toxic environment and they were acting
it out and coping with it in equally
poisonous ways the colonel leading the
Japanese army he might know him as boo
mojo knew this so when he came across
the profane he also posted to organize a
show for two thousand troops in Yangon
same fella diem halt Hussain was
Restless he began pacing up and now his
rehearsal hall other risk of things
going wrong what if they don't like the
show I mean what do you do when you put
on a show for an audience who's not
really known for being the most
forgiving that's one unit and her little
brother they were 10 and 11 at the time
came marching into the room you may have
learned the song at school it's a song
from Japan the children saw and she's
saying it for who profane we will sing
ask me yet what the song meant and he
knew then exactly what to do the night
of the opening show came the soldiers
victors and who both ain't came on to
the stage yet his famous clap gentlemen
my little son and daughter would like to
sing a song for you and just like that
me me and her little brother came
marching on to the stage the children
began to clap and sing no instruments
after the first few verses the curtains
drop from behind the children and
revealed a full group of dancers and a
full burma for orchestra I'd like to I'd
like you to use your imagination for a
minute
it would have looked really similar to
this there would have been two people in
the front no instruments and behind them
would have been a whole dance group
as the children finished a song the
dancers danced in the orchestra played
when the song was over there was
complete silence in the theatre and then
a sniffle and then a sob the audience is
crying then came to you plus it almost
never ended while Nemea and her brother
about helplessly on stage it was an
ovation a historic ovation one recorded
in books about war and books about
theater this brings me to my conclusion
there's a talent or if a methodology I
believe its methodology
I think methodology is something that
gets you to a certain point a point
where no one's been to before but when
you get to that point it comes back to
talent because talent is what allows you
to trust your intuition and follow
through with ideas that are assumingly
crazy in the life of who profane it was
methodology that got him out of a
village and into the spotlight but it
was his talent that made this story
happen once upon a time in Yemma a
little girl in the boys sang a song and
maybe it was just for one night but it
disarmed an army ladies and gentlemen
here to sing the chorus of that song
from that very night my grandmother
loved remaining childhoods I mean I will
say yes a
[Applause]
okay captain now cut that one do not I
thought I really beautiful gotta die cut
down our avocado jo koy UK to the wall
he dies I know or calculation oh cool
you know Tom and you know that a kata he
dies I know arigato
Hey Tai Chan yo I got oh hey hi hi yo
arigato thank you very much
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