Expanding Cliches and More (Bootleg Rehearsals)

This week Shy and I started working on expanding the cliches for the Bootleg show in a couple of weeks.

We made a new vocalized sound score for the cliche chakradar.  Listen to it here:

Clichechakradar by cynthialinglee
And here is the written score:

chakradar cliches:

uninhibited girl child: whee!  whee!

self-flagellating: AAA! AA AAAA!

courtesan - sringar (bangle, ding!) 1 2 3

reverent disciple (adab): oh my gu-ru 1 2

exotic native: ohhhhh 1 2

feminine Indian-ness (ghunghat): mmmm... 2 3-
WTF!?!: What the Fuck?!? 1 2

scared little girl: gee gee gee gee

sex-crazed maniac: oh baby yeah yeah yeah--

shurpanaka: ohbaby, yeah, oh baby yeah yeah

protesting: no... --

geeky professor: duh duh duh?

oriental doll: ding! dinga linga linga linga ling 2 3 4

exotic native: oo ga boo ga ga

dominatrix (S&M): slap slap

crass - WTF?!?: WHAT!

exotic dancer (strip/lap): deedee deeee dee

ghunghat (veil): 1-2 ji ji kita - -

sex-crazed maniac (crass thrusting): OH- (male yeah baby)

helpless victim: oh-! [oh oho! 1 2 ] turunga opera style

shy girl: guh guh guh guh

shurpanaka: oh daddy come to me--

bangle: cha cha ching tak

viva la vulva: oh i am so very yum-my--

Indian exoticism, Madonna style: like a vir-gin touched for the very first

prideful: time 2 3 4

reverent disciple: don’t be mad, guru 1 2 3

exotic dancer (strip/lap): uh uh slurp tsss 1 2 rar rar rara 1 2

emblem of ancient spiritual tradition: OMM 1 2 All is Maya. - -

diva: bada pshh

oriental doll: ding.  Would you like some tea or cof-fee?--
helpless victim: uhhuh huh huh uhhuh huhhuhuhuuh-- (crying)

crass: What the fuck, schmuck?!?

lollypop catholic school-girl: hee hee heeheeheehee slurp

We also brainstormed some other ideas about how to expand the cliches:

NEW CLICHE IDEAS -

*choreograph to the other rhythm in the skype call…

(or other rhythms)

can play with doing it cross rhythmically

*Integrating the words somehow (in rhythm?)

*big pile of costumes and props:  either audience dress us, or they get dressed up, or have the audience label us (index cards)

*collecting their clichés in intermission then performing them

*black slips as a way to tie into skin remix

pleasure of embodying them needs to be investigated (write about it, embody it?)

*how find underbelly and turn it around…one at a time gets stuck in a particular phrase that they’re grappling with, response words Carole asked us for might be a way to investigate this. 

*teach a bunch of audience members some of the cliché movment with the rest of the audience shouting them out. 

-Having a pre-show installation where audience write down stereotypes/cliches either that they have experienced personally or of women on index cards, which then get given to Carol and projected on the small scrim.
-During the installation, having a pile of ridiculous clothing and letting the audience dress us up according to their cliche of choice.  They could also sculpt us into positions embodying those cliches.
-Perhaps during the pre-show installation, as audience are filing into seats, we could have interviews with people telling personal anecdotes about stereotypes that they experienced in the past?
-Incorporating the actual words the cliches are based upon in the musical score
-Ending with us verbally choking on the cliches (like a hairball) escalating into a competitive shouting match where I (Cynthia) win, shouting something like "authentic Indian classical dancer" while jamming the giant white braid on my head that I wear for the beginning of my Logomotion solo.  This would then set up the next piece.

And here are some of the response words that we originally wrote for Carole that might provide guidance on how to further explore certain cliches.  We thought we could further explore the cliches that are most relevant to the rest of the show, thereby introducing/setting them up.

remix

torn

viva la vulva

swallow

escape

repressed

fading

sringar

FAKE

doll

release

explode

subvert

ignore

refuse

dressing the part

misfit

solidarity

resignation

frustration

inevitable

surface

muted

dismember

EAT ME

in the dark

silenced

strategic exoticism

can you hear me?

strategic silence

resist

alternatives

confusion

annoyance

laugh it off

framed!

someday?

closed fist

what the fuck?!?

dry mouth, salt water

avoidance

Last, we analyzed what strategies are currently being used to deal with cliches/stereotypes throughout the show:

Cliche Section

Chakradar: juxtaposition, contradiction.  Parody.

Spitting/Hairball: physical rejection

-for example, shy gets a hairball, i smack her on the back, and then she vomits a horrible stereotype onto me.  i’m mad and so i should another cliche at her.  this leads into shouting match. 

Shouting Match/Competition/Barrage: Self-victimization, wound-sharing, collusion, divisive, re-claiming

Getting Dressed: Reclaiming stereotype on your own terms.  Contradiction/Friction. Parody.

Installation/Audience: creating dialogue, acknowledgment rather than ignoring, awareness, community, Sunoh!

Logomotion: questioning, calling out the gender expectations, denaturalization, humor

Uma Stories: on Uma’s part: voicing, revealing and unveiling herself/finding an alternative, unbinding, coming out, contesting the expectation (to be good wife, mother, martyr); the horror of the lived reality of the stereotype, the cost of it, the toll it takes, no longer a flat image

skin remix: aestheticizes the cliche, a variety of strategies, solidarity (end)

 And we analyzed the relationship between the performers throughout the Bootleg version of the show:

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERFORMERS

Cliches: unison/solidarity into competition/division

Logomotion: supportive

Uma Stories: empathetic friend

skin remix:

1.     2 women isolated in parallel situations of negotiating cliches

2.     approaching the other (who is in a similar situation)

3.     partner, strategizing together, support?

4.     witness (looking at flagellating skin video)

5.     unison, solidarity