“B.D. Women’s Blues” (1935) by Lucille Bogan, aka Bessie Jackson, also gave voice to the bulldagger or bulldyke of the era in the classic AAB blues lyric structure.
Below are the lyrics I've translated for the assignment
BD Woman from Post Natyam Collective on Vimeo.
Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men 'Cause the way they treat us is a lowdown and dirty sin B.D. women, you sure can't understand B.D. women, you sure can't understand They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man B.D. women, they all done learned their plan B.D. women, they all done learned their plan They can lay their jive just like a natural manPassword: bd
BD Woman from Post Natyam Collective on Vimeo.
I see a bold, proud, woman who has a good dose of attitude and is in charge of her own sexuality. The integration of sensual hip and shoulder movements into Bharatanatyam vocabulary is compelling in how it reverses the historical de-eroticization of the form, but through the detour of the blues. To me this suggests, on an aesthetic rather than historical level, interesting connections between the blues women and India's courtesans in how they occupied seemingly empowered, nonnormative sexualities.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing another interpretation of a queer-inflected blues song, since that was what I explored in my study too. It was especially nice to see a less literal approach than the one I took: more angika abhinaya portraying a particular character rather than always translating words into movements in a 1-1 way, and a satisfying rhythmic treatment of the piano accompaniment. Movements that I was particularly drawn to include your shoulder circling as you lowered to the ground around 0:20, the integration of hips into your footwork at 0:28, the sudden pop into araimandi at 0:34 (which for me had the peculiar effect of reading as "masculine" compared to what came before -- something that might be fun to investigate more), suchi into the snap around 0:50, all of your rhythmic footwork in relation to the music, especially 1:14. And how funny that we both integrated the slapping away of the shikara hasta into a spin in our studies! I agree with Sandra and Aditee that the braiding hair movement -- which for me reads as feminine without being powerful -- is a bit confusing.
Given that the bulldagger was considered a "masculine women-loving woman," I wonder if it would be productive to take a closer look at your gender presentation throughout the work. Right now many of the movements appear strong and feminine -- perhaps it could be interesting to integrate more masculine embodiment? To me, the lyrics suggest not only masculinity but the possibility of slipping between the poles of gendered expression -- "They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man."
I really enjoyed seeing how this assignment pushed the interpretation of some familiar movements and gave them a new inflection of attitude and sexual strength that was completely different than what I'm used to seeing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cynthia that the addition of hips and shoulders could be a possible reclaiming of a historically erased space for erotic interpretation, but with a twist from the blues.
Rather then performing the B.D. woman, I felt you were another woman commenting on the B.D. woman...perhaps you are the B.D. woman's lover or a woman who is entertaining the B.D. woman? This makes me think of the courtesans in Veena Oldenberg's article that we researched during SUNOH! who performed for men, but implied that their real lovers were actually other women.
It also brings me back to Helen because she was your research topic and thinking about her as a bold, sexually empowered dancer who actually did use hips and shoulders. I have heard of homo-erotic interpretations of certain Bollywood scenes from the gay male perspective but am wondering if there are any of these from the female queer perspectives? Especially one's that might involve Helen? One of the movie clips I think Cynthia shared of Helen was her "competing" Western/European/Bellydancing styles of dance against a woman doing more traditional Indian styles of dance...but at some point they both seem to be banding together against a man. I'd have to research the lyrics and context to know what they're saying to him, but from the physicality of the situation it implies a rejection of the male desire and some sort of alignment between women.
FROM ADITEE:
ReplyDeleteIn your work I really enjoyed watching the following sections - the mandi with double mushthi was very nice, the dhak dhak pose (shoulder and chest movement, very madhuri dixit esq) was great, I enjoyed watching very much the flamingo bird like pose on one leg, the snap and hitting the bottom was great fun, shoulder movement with kataka mukha and ending hip sway were great!!
I am however a little confused about the beginning - the hair and the braiding action to be exact. Will be great if you could talk a little about it. Also the BD women lyrics and the movement seem to be in contrast, so could you please talk about it a little as well? how the idea came to you and how you arrived at juxtaposing the lyrics with meenakshi-esq feminine movement, and the movement choices in general.
FROM SANDRA:
ReplyDeleteAnj, there are some very very interesting mmt moments here- I like the way the rhythm of the music is affecting your bharatanatyam steps.
particularly interesting mmt moments are:
time code:
shoulder mmt: 00:19-00:22
mmt sequence 00:25-00:52
ending: 1:27 onwards
I am a bit confused about braid in beginning: it's a very feminine gesture around 1:15-1:20 that seems to be in contrast to a BD woman