WHAT IS DHAC?

 

The Dutch Historical Acting Collective (DHAC) is made up of individuals who through their experience in the performance of Early Music became fascinated by the expressive possibilities of historical acting. There is no designated leader of the group, although organizationally it is linked to the University of Leiden through Jed Wentz’s affiliation with the Academy of the Performing and Creative Arts. The goals and methodology of the Collective are not fixed, but change to reflect the trajectories of the individual members. The research period extends from 1600-1930.

 

Historical acting gives us the opportunity of investigating how our mind functions as the link between our body and imagination, both as creator and executor. Whereas our bodies will never produce the exact same effects as those of any given early-modern actor, many times we have taken steps in which we have deliberately endeavoured to try out a technique or stance taken from an historical source knowing that it is diametrically opposed to current taste—even to the point of working counter to our own personal taste—in the hope of reaching new and different embodied perspectives. Therefore, while we attempt to allow other, earlier, tastes to speak to us, and manifest themselves through us, we also acknowledge that we are still part of the present, and thus on some level always embody the present world. 

 

Whereas historical treatises on acting (J. J. Engel, Aaron Hill, Johannes Jelgerhuis), art (Leonardo da Vinci, Karel van Mander, Charles le Brun, Gerard de Lairesse, William Hogarth), elocution (John Burgh, John Walker, Gilbert Austin, Gustav Anton von Seckendorff, Andrew Comstock, George Vandenhoff) as well as silent movies (Lon Chaney, Emile Jannings, Victor Seastrom, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau) serve as sources of inspiration for our work, in the end each individual has to draw on their own personal inner vision in creating each and every performance.

 

Although the main focus of the Collective is on acting, our past activities in the field of music cannot be denied; it remains one of the areas from which we draw experience and to which we apply knowledge gained in our research and discussions.