The 2010 Armor Workshop hosted by Prof. James Glavan from the University of Texas at Austin concluded with a show on December 21 presenting the battle gear created by TNUA students under the guidance of the visiting scholar.
Five models from the Department of Dance and the Department of Theatre Arts were dressed in the armor suits created by the workshop participants in a staged performance with special visual and sound effects at the TNUA Dance Theatre, with invitations extended to administrators and faculty members.
Prof. Glavan’s two-week workshop starting on November 18 was part of an international exchange course of the Department of Theatrical Design and Technology. Prof. Chin Ping-Ping said that in April this year teachers and students from the department received a warm welcome from Prof. Glavan during their visit to UT Austin. Prof. Chin said the department’s students must have leant a lot from Prof. Glavan in the just concluded workshop.
Prof. Glavan came to TNUA along with two of his graduate students, Rebecca Miller and Carl Booker, who helped 17 undergraduate and graduate students from the department learn the tricks of armor making.
According to Prof. Glavan, the design and characteristics of armor reflect the social background of a particular period in history. Armor is not just for men, as there were armor suits for Joan of Arc in medieval Europe and Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century, and even for battle horses.
Under the guidance of the UT Austin professor, the 17 students were divided into groups of two to four, each making an armor piece of a particular period or theme – from the Trojan War, ancient Roman, medieval Europe, operatic style, to China’s Song Dynasty.
Within those two short weeks, the excited students often worked overtime till late in the night picking the right materials and fabrics, cutting, dyeing, sculpting and doing various other necessary work. The workshop was almost always crowded with these hardworking students, even during the weekends.
Prof. Glavan lauded the students for their creativity and diligence, saying that they have shown their brilliance as individual artists, as well as their team spirit.