Here is Theory Assignment 3, due on Jan 6!
- All read Hari Krishnan's "From Gynemimesis to Hypermasculinity: The Shifting Orientations of Male Performers of South Indian Court Dance," Vasu Reddy's interview of Judith Butler, "Troubling Genders, Subverting Identities," and Butler's writing on drag from Gender Trouble.
- Write responses.
- Come up with ideas for choreographic assignment based on readings.
Here is my response:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1De5dOlAkbeMdWD2Lfu49H4FwgIGWv1TScXujLqy_SII/edit
CHOREOGRAPHIC IDEAS:
1. Choreograph a study that embodies the history of BN as Hari describes it, moving from female impersonation to hypermasculinity. The catch is that the (female) dancer must to do this in drag, ie, dressed as a man.
2. Judith Butler postulates that hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity can be attributed to a melancholic incorporation by heterosexuals of early childhood homosexual attachments:
“she incorporates them as parts of herself, modes of identification, and this means that they come to survive for her as her own character traits. She incorporates them -- makes them, in a way, into her own body, her own bodily sense and comportment, and this incorporation is precisely the opposite of -- and the consequence of -- unacknowledged loss” (121).
Create a melancholic padam about a lost love, in which the beloved is an Indian woman. Start the padam in hyperfeminine Indian garb and physicality. As the lost love is increasingly acknowledged through poetic mourning, have your body language and physicality shift towards being more androgynous and incorporating the physicality of cultures outside of India.
3. Working with failure and deformity, create a series of parodic repetitions on an iconic script of Indian femininity such as a classical thumri or gat bhav. Consider how these repetitions or variations may be understood within the framework of rasa theory and abhinaya technique.
Reading Hari Krishnan's article next to Judith Butler reminded me of the assignment Hari himself gave Post Natyam that inspired the piece "Mixed Bag" in SUNOH! Tell me, Sister. I offer it here, slightly re-framed to explore gender instead of courtesans.
ReplyDeleteCome up individually with 5 cliches about "femininity" and 5 cliches about "masculinity" make sure some of each address the Indian dance context. Create a short phrase based on each of these impressions. Feel free to oscillate between the literal and abstract.