Tsering Dorjee (Bawa) is a renowned Tibetan artist based in Berkeley and received his Masters in Tibetan Performing Arts from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala, India. He served as the cultural consultant for the original production of The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center and also appeared in the show as a dancer. Not only is he the cultural consultant for MTC’s production, he’s also the choreographer and playing The Oldest Boy himself.

Marin Theatre Company’s Literary Intern, Maddie Gaw, sat down to talk with Tsering about his performance career and the importance of preserving the unique cultural heritage of Tibet through music and dance.

MG:

Tell me about where you were born, and some of your childhood memories of being in Tibet.

TD:

I was born in the western part of Tibet, where the Holy Mount Kailash is. I was brought up mostly in India. I fled from Tibet when I was really young, in my early teens. Then I got my music and art education in India. There wasn’t really a school for music and art in Tibet in old times, because music and art is always in your family, and in the household. At this early age, you’d see people gathering in festivals, and in that kind of atmosphere, you can learn by yourself. My serious education started in India, in Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama lives with the Tibetan government in exile. They founded a music and arts school, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, which was the only Tibetan music and art school you could go to. I chose to go to that institute and I graduated from there and then worked there as a teacher. At the same time we were touring a lot to present our culture to the West. I was at that institute for 18 years, and spent most of my youth there. I was going back and forth touring, and then in 2005 I decided to move somewhere. That was a big, big change in my life. My first daughter was three years old at that time. I decided to leave first, cause you couldn’t travel with the whole family together. I applied for asylum in the United States, and was granted it. Now I’m with my wife and two beautiful daughters here in the Bay Area. I’ve always been interested in working in film and theatre, and am more into acting than music and folk arts, which I trained in.

MG:

Had you been to the Bay Area or the US before you decided that was where you were going to move?

TD:

Yes. I had a few favorite countries when I thought about moving. France is one of my favorites in Europe, and the Netherlands. But I had a lot of friends from India and some relatives who lived in the Bay Area, and moved there because when you are in a completely new country like the United States, you have to know someone, otherwise you are lost. USA’s the land of opportunity, so you can do lot of things. If luck comes, it goes with you.

MG:

What made you turn towards acting instead of the music and arts that you’d been studying?

TD:

I found myself more naturally into acting than music. In Tibetan performing arts we do a lot of opera that has a lot of acting involved. When I was doing Tibetan opera, I’d notice my attention went to the acting more than the singing. Then at that time we were doing a lot of short, contemporary plays in India, and I was getting most of the male lead roles. People saw me more as an actor than as a musician, which drew me more to more things. I go to acting classes whenever I get the chance. In San Francisco there’s a great private school, the Barbizon International School of Acting and Modeling. I’ve been there for six months training to get some American tricks.

MG:

Can you describe what you consider to be unique about the Tibetan style of performance in the different folk arts—in opera, in music—in comparison to a lot of our theatre and arts here in the West?

TD:

The biggest difference between Tibetan art and performing is that when acting, we stick more with the lines than the emotion. Is emotion right? More—

MG:

More with the text versus the subtext?

TD:

We are more with the text. In the West you are really looking for something else behind the text. So that’s challenging, and that’s the main thing you have to learn here. Another challenge for me was language. I am fluent in Tibetan, I am fluent in Hindi and fluent in Nepali, and English is my fourth language. I still have to learn to pick up words and phrases, and the American accent. My English was learned in India, and America has completely different pronunciations.

MG:

Historically, what importance has Tibet placed on music and performing arts?

TD:

Traditionally music and art would be carried from one generation to the next. It’s very important to preserve traditional music and art while in exile, because it’s disappearing in exile. I was very serious about preserving my culture, which is why I decided to study more deeply, and learn more. Whatever you learn you can easily pass to your next generation.

MG:

How would you describe the Tibetan exile community in the Bay Area?

TD:

We count around 1,500 to 2,000 people, but we are a very tight community. 90% of us know each other. We have a community school [The Tibetan School of Northern California in Berkeley, CA] where every Sunday we send our young kids to stay in touch with their language. There are very important programs in Tibetan language, music and dance. The music and dance classes are a very attractive program for young kids who are growing up here. It is best to teach their language in music in dance first so that they are really interested in coming to the school. I’ve been teaching there for the last seven years. They have around 100 kids every Sunday, of every age level. Through that [music and dance program] most of the kids within our community know how to play Tibetan music, and they sing many Tibetan songs. We have a few important occasions, like the Tibetan New Year. We always have a get together, so the kids always present that day. The Dalai Lama’s birthday is July 6^th and all my students always present Tibetan songs and music to the public on that day, and they are really proud of themselves, to be representing as a Tibetan. They don’t speak Tibetan that well because they are speaking mostly in English. Even my daughters are speaking more English than Tibetan. When they are doing some music and arts though, they really do well in their own mother tongue.

MG:

How did you originally become involved with The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center?

TD:

When I was touring Europe 15 years ago I had built a website. That’s how Lincoln Center found me, through Google, and they told me about The Oldest Boy. They first asked me to come for a one week workshop for the actors as the cultural consultant. Later they felt it was good to have me in the whole process and they offered me a part in the show. I was so honored to be involved with it again here at Marin Theatre Company. This story is about Tibet and the story itself has a very strong message about the religious aspect, the political aspect, and the parent and child aspect. I relate to it as a parent, and as a Tibetan of course.