Glove Puppetry
Folk art
Glove puppetry, also known as Budaixi, which literally translates as cloth sack theater, is a type of Taiwanese opera using cloth puppets. It originated in China but later developed and established itself as a national art form in Taiwan. It is one of the representative traditional cultures in Taiwan and also part of the precious collective memory of middle-aged and elderly Taiwanese.
By cohesion of puppet manipulation, poetic dialogue, traditional Chinese music and special effects, glove puppetry is a combination of art, literature, music, animation and creativity. A unique characteristic of glove puppetry that is one puppet master can take on all roles, from a little child to an elderly man.
Passing down
Imagine a situation: What will iGEM become lacking of enthusiastic organizers and participants? It could be difficult to continue.
Just like iGEM, any outstanding concept has to be handed down for continuous development, and this requires groups of people to work on it from generation to generation.
During our interview with the head of the Wu Zhou Sheng Yi Ge, we realized that glove puppetry is facing struggles and frustrations in passing down its skills. With the prevalence of technologies and new entertainments, glove puppetry is gradually disappearing from the public. The current generation has had less chance to be in touch with this traditional craft, not to mention learning and promoting it. This results in difficulties of carrying on glove puppetry and passing it on to the next generation.
Inclusion: integrating traditional and contemporary
Under the challenge of maintaining this traditional art, most glove puppetry troupes will try to fit into contemporary mainstream culture in order to attract the new generation. They have tried various innovations and reforms by adding advanced elements like technologies, special effects, and modern music. They also pay attention to how the content of the performance relates to our daily lives or current issues.
That was the reason for our collaboration. We wanted to bring innovations to both science communication and glove puppetry, so we incorporated science into glove puppetry, turning it from conveying stories and traditional values into a platform for disseminating science. This kind of deduction was not only a breakthrough of art, but also a breakthrough of science as we brought something new to glove puppetry thorough science and maximized our impact of disseminating science thorough glove puppetry. We hoped that at the same time we popularize scientific knowledge, we could also offer an avenue for glove puppetry to show the charm of this distinctive culture in Taiwan on the world stage.
Just like glove puppetry passes on the traditional craft by keeping pace with developments in the world, we realized that science communication is also a continuous process. During this process, we have to link up with more communities representing different fields and perspectives. We should be willing to accept and work with those from diverse perspectives, including them in consideration of science. By this, science could embrace elements that make it more widely recognized.
Essentials for the glove puppetry show
Script: a story about dengue composed by us in Taiwanese Hokkien.
Puppets: wooden heads with woven clothes and bodies. Generally, the puppet master places the index finger inside the head while the thumb and middle finger operate the arms.
Scene: outdoor and indoor scenes included. To show the texture and delicate movement changes, black screen and stage lightning were needed.
Manpower: as one person can only manipulate two puppets at maximum, manpower was required to manipulate the puppets simultaneously when taking a shot of many puppets. Everyone should be careful not to expose heads and arms to the camera (it was pretty hard!).
Photographic equipment: professional photographic equipment is required to capture the best shots showing the motions and emotional expression of the puppets.
Post-production: included video editing, background music and subtitles. Background music is an important part of glove puppetry.
