18 November 2014
In the afternoon of 13 November 2014, the honorary professor appointment ceremony in honor of Mr Eugenio Barba was held at the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA). Mr Lou Wei, Party Secretary of STA, presented the appointment certificate to Mr Barba and put on the STA university badge for him. Mr Han Sheng, President of STA, gave a speech at the ceremony. The ceremony was chaired by Mr Gong Baorong, Vice President of STA. Mr He Yan, Party Secretary and Vice Dean of STA Department of Acting, gave a detailed introduction of Mr Barba to the participants at the ceremony. He emphasized that Mr Barba’s concepts and approaches for creation will bring new concepts and thoughts to China’s theatre education, cross-cultural communication and theatre anthropology studies, particularly, in the exploration of how traditional arts should develop in a modern theatre setting.
In his speech, President Han Sheng extended the warm welcome to Mr Barba and Odin Theatre for their visit on behalf of STA. He said it was an honor for STA to be able to have Mr Barba as its honorary professor. The Odin Theatre has long enjoyed a good reputation and is highly influential domestically and internationally. Mr Barba, as a great master in theatrical arts, will surely be able to open up new prospects for STA’s teaching and development.
Mr Barba also gave a speech, in which he said that he had first come to know China from Chinese poems and that the Chinese theatre had also brought him a lot of aspirations. He said that arts require techniques, but not just techniques. The team of his Odin Theatre is consisted of artists from different countries who speak different languages. He hoped that there would also be Chinese on the Odin team of the next generation.
