Performance

Our big debut is over, and I was very happy to share my new talents with my friends and family on Friday. We've been working so hard these last few weeks to pull something together, and I was apprehensive up until the second we walked off stage. I want to congratulate everyone for working really hard, and for putting forth the creativity that was needed to design our performance. I also thought that is was really cool how we integrated all of the things that we learned in class like the bharatanatyam steps in the begging seen, the different Chucs that we learned along with the Siya vararam song, the mudras of the different characters, as well as bits from the story of the Ramayana. In particular I thought that Elie did a really good job being Ravana and really involving the audience in the scene. I talked to some of my friends and my cousin afterward, and they really enjoyed the ridiculousness of her character. At the same time, I think that it was good that we made our debut at the international dance showcase, because there was no other dance group that performed anything remotely similar to ours. This far into the semster I don't even think calling our scene a dance gives it proper justice. On Friday night we made our own music, we danced, we acted, and we sang. The skills and instruments we brought forth to show to the school and the Williamsburg community was more like a grand cultural experience, something much greater than we ever thought it could be.

Big Fish

Monday's supposed discussion about the Ramayana, was the first time that I felt like our group was something more than a class; At this point in time the members of the Asian Performance Dance class, became a community. While we've had moments up until this point that have challenged our banja, like the Gaylan's very personal story about his friend, Guru's story about how Bali changed his life, and our discussions about what we want to get out of this class, it wasn't until Eddie's economy moment that we all realized that this class is really bigger than ourselves. The fluidity of the dance is not there when, like on friday, nearly a third of the class is missing, Our monkey impersinations are not as real if they aren't for all to see, and my vulnerability can still exist if everyone is not their being vulnerable with me. Unfortunately, the circle of my classmates becomes more like a square, if members don't stand alongside one another. So right now I want to thank everyone for our big fish because without it, we are dancers without a reason to dance!

Singing and Chanting

I really enjoyed Wednesday's class when we got to learn those Balinese songs. I've always been one for singing and for learning other languages so it was really cool to be able to learn some words in another language, even if we haven't been taught yet what they mean. Learning by imitation is a pretty powerful thing and it makes me feel like we are learning it the same way that local balinese people would, through the practice of oral tradition. The energy in the room was incredible when we all were trying so hard to memorize the language. From what I have gathered from contextual clues is that they song is some kind of prayer to the gods from the Ramayana. It was also cool when Guru sung that song while we tried to dance out our characters. What was really interesting about that particular part of class was talking about the different hand positions we should have for different characters. This goes a lot in line with what I discovered last week while we watched the video about the role that gestures can have in telling the story. The whimisical fingers of Rama vs. the more pointed ones for his brother subtily hint to those watching about the divine nature of Rama.

On another note, I had some real difficulties learning the new Bharatanatyam dances this week. Especially putting the hand gestures with the dance. Sometimes when I have a few seconds I make half movements to practice the order, but I think doing the the whole movements somewhere else would be more beneficial. I guess I must now be on a new quest to find such a place!

Ramayana Video Performance

The performance we watched on Wednesday was a beautiful blur of color, movement, and sound. While the faces of the performers were covered in masks and heavy makeup, their attention to facial expression and movement allowed them not only to act out the story, but also allowed us, as the audience, to think their thoughts, feel their emotions, and live their adventure. In particular, the dancer who played Ravana was great about capturing the audiences attention to his feelings. While the mask was in the way of his face, his use of gestures, the strength of the sound he made while dancing, and his speed allowed us to sense his strength of hatred for Rama and his love for Sita. Hopefully our dancing community will be able to capture our audience in the same way during our performance of the same story.