Brahe-Davis: The Mystic Mask Retreat
The name Brahe-Davis comes from the originator of the work, Per Brahe (Theatre Director), and me, Akil Apollo Davis (Theatre Professor & Performing Artist), who expanded the work. Per and I met in 2005 at the prestigious New York University TISCH School of the Arts. We began incorporating education and work in psychology, philosophy, dance, esoteric practices, and healing methods into the mask work, evolving it into the powerful work it is today.
Each of the masks in the Brahe-Davis collection of over 500 originals has its own distinct and specific image. The image or “archetype” that each mask holds is drawn by either Per or me while in a special meditation, then carved in the traditional Balinese mask-making process by Balinese Masters. The masks are hand-carved from sacred wood, given forty to seventy coats of paint, and energetically cleansed.
When participants wear one of the Brahe-Davis Method masks, they’re in for a transformative experience. We begin by placing a mask on the person’s face without letting them see or know what it looks like. This keeps them from “pre-acting” in the wrong or prejudged direction. Especially because when the masks are drawn, Per and I “don’t care what they look like”!
We only care that the intention is clear.
Thus, one cannot tell what the masks are by looking.
As it is said, “We all know that a pretty face doesn’t necessarily mean a pretty person on the inside”…
So it is with the Brahe-Davis masks. The image is not on the mask…it is in the mask.
It is important to note that these masks differ, in the extreme, from the traditional Commedia dell’arte Masks that dominate Europe and Western Culture. Commedia masks aim to put the body in the position or gesture of the character- frequently using a mirror. A large majority of the world’s masks are designed to “look” like what they are. This is how we normally intake information when it comes to images. We look at the surface and expect certain things or anticipate certain qualities.
