KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

The Faculty of Culture of the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) hosted an experimental open lesson for 1st-year students of the Department of Direction and the 3rd-year students of the Department of Russian Language and Literature.

The famous fables “The Dragonfly and the Ant”, “The Swan, the Crab and the Wolffish” and “The Wolf and the Lamb” by Ivan Krilov were presented to the audience with totally new and unique solutions.
In the beginning of the performance, stage director, Professor Aida Hovhannisyan remarked that the selected interactive format allows reprimanding, taking breaks and even interrupting the actors, then also listening to opinions at the end.

The beginning of the performance was a rhythmic drill — sequential scenes that take place in an elevator and, at first sight, far from the context of the fables of Krilov. However, the performance was again about us and how people are consolidated ‘in tight situations’.

The performance, which was held in Armenian and Russian simultaneously, was about the ideology of not wasting time, the fact that the weak are always to blame when they face those who are stronger and, after all, the power that lies in unity, and it contained musical solutions in many styles.

Aida Hovhannisyan didn’t take a break throughout the performance and viewed the experiment and lesson a success. According to her, the future directors and teachers succeeded in transmitting the main idea to the audience through their talent and dedication. “Directing is a ‘broad’ profession, which contains elements of dance, acting mastery and stage speech. The main purpose of establishing the interdisciplinary connection is also to surround modern-day advanced children with specialists who meet the demands of the 21st century. The teachers must have command of stage speech and acting mastery, and this was also the reason why students of other departments were participating in the open lesson,” the stage director remarked.

She added that the idea of conveying new air to the fables of Krilov on stage was born during her meeting with Head of the Moscow Cultural-Business Center “Dom Moskvy” Vahram Karapetyan, who was also attending the event. Karapetyan praised the performance, the students’ acting and opened up by saying that Aida Hovhannisyan’s professionalism could be seen in the performance and that one got the impression that this wasn’t the first time the students were on stage.

At the end of the performance, psychologist Zina Torosyan stated that, as always, Aida Hovhannisyan — with her spirit of an artist and type of artist that she is — succeeded in noticing, delicately and sharply presenting what is important and must be important. Torosyan admits that right from the beginning of the performance, she kept thinking about the well-known idea of people who play games and games that people play. “The performance showed all the games in which we are entangled in the 21st century and the talents that need to be revealed on an ongoing basis,” she said.

Dean of the Faculty of Culture Gevorg Tadevosyan remarked that he has seen the performances directed by many masters, and Aida Hovhannisyan succeeded in presenting the unique bond with our reality this time as well.
The performance-open lesson received the warm rounds of applause and high appreciation of the audience.