I was the last person to add into the reworked Cyber Chat, Cyber Spat, and I admit I was a little overwhelmed by all the information contained in the other videos. In creating my portion, I wanted to integrate some elements from the other three choreographers, to make sense of our conversation narratively, and tie up any loose ends.
One of my techniques was to integrate props used by the other three: books, coffee cup, and costume. Also, after chatting with Sangita, I decided that this piece was a conference call in which we were discussing our long-distance project on courtesans: that Sandra was addressing this through theory (the books), while Shyamala was doing so performatively (through costumes). Since I regretted not being able to read the titles of Sandra's books, I revised my earlier opening, in which I had sleepily poured myself a cup of coffee, and instead opened with myself sleeping on a pile of books (as if I'd been researching all night!). I intentionally chose books that were salient to our project, including When God is a Customer (an erotic collection of padams), Taboo! (fieldwork on the redlight district in Lahore), Abhinayadarpanam (Sanskrit treatise on abhinaya), Telling Stories to Change the World (this was a nod to our more activist work with SAN).
I also wanted to respect the shape of my rhythmic composition, which is a chakradar (a thrice-repeating composition), and so I broke my choreography into three sections: (1) my first "small dance" sleepiness (2) my rhythmic show-and-tell with the books and (3) my reentry to engage with a discussion about the costumes. Within this I tried to time certain gestures and actions (coffee drinking, book moving) so that they would align with the others.
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