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Queering Abhinaya 2, 2 from Sandra Chatterjee on Vimeo.
Feedback questions:
1) what do you take away from the video?
2) What do you take away from the song?
3) how does the video relate to the song?
4) Does the video stand alone?
5) I was thinking of starting with a live announcement (like the ones Janet critiques)- kind like this:
"The next item is a traditional love song. It says:
I have been in love with a girl for many years.
One day, the girl will have to find out one day! Whenever I see her red red lips, with her ever happy laugh, I want to do everything to have the chance to taste them one day.
Why does she keep me waiting, why does she only smile from afar.
Like a hidden flower I grow close to her.Whenever I see her I think- let me wait some more time.
But today I will tell her for certain
The reasons are enough!"
What do you think of that idea?
6) How does it relate to "queering abhinaya"
7)Any other thoughts?
1) what do you take away from the video?
ReplyDeleteI take a way questions: Who is this woman? I wonder if she trying to be "whiter" as in the infamous skin whitening cream? Is she South Asian (nose-ring indicates this possibility) trying to be European? Is she European (black turtleneck and hair in a bun gives me the association of a conservative Euroepean lady)? Is she a South Asian in Europe trying to be whiter and blend in? Is she admiring herself or someone else? If she is admiring someone else, is she also trying to be like the person she is admiring (as in a female admiring a female lover and wanting to be just like her)? Is she joyful and jealous of the person she is admiring (her earlier happy expressions and then the sadder expression at the end makes me think she cannot fully achieve the aesthetic she is trying for).
I also am left with a slightly eerie feeling, perhaps it's the ghost like appearance from the powder coupled with the expressions both happy and sad.
2) What do you take away from the song?
The music generally gives me a wistful romantic feeling, like love in separation. Perhaps it is this wistfulness that adds to the eerie feeling i got at the end of the video.
The sound of a man's voice, saying a woman's name, makes me feel that he is singing about the woman in the video.
At the first listen, I only recognized Rajamani's style and didn't really think too much about the words, though I did think at one point that i might have understood something in English. By the time I realized it, the English was gone and I recognized a word in HIndi "zindagi", so then I assumed it was iin HIndi and stopped paying attention to the lyrics.
on a closer listen I heard more of the English lyrics and different sounding languages, but that didn't inform my understanding of the piece much because the English lyrics still seemed to be abut the woman.
3) how does the video relate to the song?
In the very beginning the strumming feels dramatic as we first see the woman's face, and as the turtle neck covers her face mysteriously and a bit ominously. The slow pulling of the turtle neck over the face looks like a bandit.
After that, the music provides a background sound that is wistful but upbeat. It supports the intimate feeling of the video, like it's something the woman is listening to in the background as she gets made-up. the up-beatness feels like it fits the moments she is smiling and doing bigger gestures, and the wistfulness matches the times she is looking more serious/stern or sad.
4) Does the video stand alone?
Do you mean without the music, or without anything else?
I think it needs music to help fill up some of the longer spots. Moments like the application of the eye make up takes a while, and after I understand what you are doing, the music helps keep me with you.
Yes it can stand alone as a short study, though I would be interested in more information myself. Right now I get the feeling that it is about appearance and values of beauty: the value of whitening the skin (European) and darkening/enlarging the eyes (South Asian), and reddening the lips (both?). It reminds me a little of the queen trying to be the "fairest in the land" in the fairy tale of Snow White. The Queen looks into the Magic Mirror asking for who is the fairest and I think the mirror describes snow white as having : Lips red as the rose (or blood), hair black as ebony (or the night), and skin white as snow.
If you were to re-film it, I wonder about the camera. Is it just a mirror? Is it an admirer? what is its relationship to the performer?
5) I was thinking of starting with a live announcement (like the ones Janet critiques)- What do you think of that idea?
ReplyDeleteI think the lyrics are very interesting to share. If you are saying it at first, it perhaps gives the possibility of it being read as a female/female desire before the male voice is heard. Then I might understand the beginning of the turtle neck as the desirer sneaking around and emerging to show their love or to sneak a peak at the yearned after. I also might understand it more as the admirer trying to be like the one she loves/admires, if you're interested in that interpretation.
6) How does it relate to "queering abhinaya"
I'm still trying to understand the idea of "queering abhinaya" so I'm not totally sure.
the clearest connection I can make is the use of abhinaya to potentially show non heterosexual desire, such as a female/female relationship.
In terms of queering culture, I am interested in the showing the layers of cultural aesthetics, such as white skin to appear more european, but then layering that with the "exotic" eyes to appear more like the "other". The clothing and hair appear European but then you are using abhinaya mixed with the pedestrian movements of putting on make-up which simultaneously others and blends it with European aesthetics.
7)Any other thoughts?
I enjoy how the gestures accumulate and by the end there is a longer, bigger, gesture sequence that is extended into the swaying of the torso (I could even see it developed more). That is a satisfying contrast to the more serious ending with the hamsasya and the changing of your expressing as the hand goes from high to low.
Right now the amount of powder that you use feels like its just a little more than what I think someone might actually do (it’s especially strange looking when it covers your eyebrows). And the lipstick appears ever so slightly to go out of the lines in one area, as if it’s almost, but not quite moving into a grotesque or clown-like rendition. Is this something you might be interested in playing with more and potentially going more extreme with? Also the expressions, feel pretty genuine. It’s a pretty dance. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, you could play with making them more exaggerated and “fake.”
Some other questions to consider: How urgently, or leisurely do you apply the powder?
would you be interested in the gesture phrase escalating somehow a reverie of gestures and flying powder and expression?
1) what do you take away from the video?
ReplyDeleteI read the video primarily as a translation of sringar, or decorating oneself ready for one’s lover. Formally you generally seem to literally do an action (such as putting on lipstick) before miming or dancing it with mudras and facial expression. The piece gets more and more animated, faster, and energetic, making liberal use of repetition (the lips, circling hands around face, flowers blooming, tracing your hand downwards to indicate beauty) as it unfolds.
In terms of its deviation from classical renditions of sringar, I notice two main things: (1) your use of facial expression and (2) aharya abhinaya. In the beginning your face is serious, even a little cold and uncomfortable, so that when your expressions of joy and admiration come earlier, I’m not convinced of their sincerity. The same thing applies for the end, when you drop your pretty facial expressions and look serious again. The aharya abhinaya intersects western and Indian signifiers in interesting ways in which it is not always clear, perhaps because of the colonial relationship that informs classical dance histories, what is “traditional” and what is “contemporary.” Let me explain further.
I see a brown, South Asian looking woman. She puts on a black western turtleneck, her head stuck in the wide neck. I think simultaneously of entrapment and, fleetingly, of Merce Cunningham’s iconic collaboration with Rauschenberg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7IiLDl1mH8). Perhaps she lives in the West. Does she feel comfortable in this clothing? It doesn’t look uncomfortable on her. She puts on bright red lipstick. After she puts it on, she seems happier, more animated. She goes on to powder her face white. Because of the turtleneck, I would assume this was a form of white face or assimilation, except that it is so typical for Indian classical dancers to try to lighten their faces through make-up (again, the colonial implications of shade-ism in a South Asian context). At this point I become super aware of your jewelry, particularly your nose ring, which references Indian jewelry to me. Later, you put on your eyeliner in a style that is very particular to Indian dance, which again seems to work against the notion that you are trying to assimilate or look white/European. But neither does it look like an act of auto-exoticization (because of the turtleneck). I also notice that you already have a good deal of eyeliner on, in a style that is typical of casual everyday Indian make-up. Your movement and facial expressions are, of course, steeped in classical abhinaya, which is marked as Indian. I wonder whom you are performing for. In what context? Who is your audience? Who is this woman’s beloved?
2) What do you take away from the song?
ReplyDeleteI went and listened to the original song because it was clear I had missed a lot on my first viewing (which was on my iPhone). I will preface my comments by saying that I tend not to hear lyrics unless I am asked to pay specific attention to them.
I hear flamenco style music. This transitions to a catchy, polka-style sound, highlighted with little accordian trills, after your head gets stuck in the turtleneck. I hear, over and over again, the name “Rosamunde.” I assume that the character you are playing is Rosamunde. I know he is singing in German, but because his pronunciation does not sound (to me) like a native speaker, I probably would not have identified it as such. The style of music does not shift much once the polka-type sound is established. There are little bits of English, again in a non-native accent, having to do with love and one’s heart. I assume it’s a love song. I’m surprised when the woman’s voice comes in because I have been interpreting the man’s voice as singing to you. Who is this woman? Is she the same person as you?
3) how does the video relate to the song?
I already mentioned this, but I notice the entrapment in the turtleneck corresponding to the polka sound and generally assumed that you are the woman, Rosamunde, described in the song as the male singer’s lover. I don’t see what connection the flamenco sound has to your movement, and I assume – because I know your personal history – that the German song and lyrics are a reference to your relationship to German culture. I’m struck by the phenomenon of Rajamani’s non-native “accent” and how that might inflect readings of your body as not authentically German (even though it is). Wonder if this could be pulled out more, somehow.
I also wonder whether the off-beat rhythm of the music ever affects your gestures, which seem to follow a different, internal rhythm.
4) Does the video stand alone?
I need some context on the music/lyrical content and/or your intention in order to fully absorb its impact. This might not be true of a native German speaking audience.
5) I was thinking of starting with a live announcement (like the ones Janet critiques)- kind like this:
I really like this idea and wonder how you can connect it to your prior theorizations such as in “An Exercise in Translation: Performing the South Asian female Body in California and Bavaria” (when people perceive you as a foreigner even when you speak Bavarian German, etc). It’s really interesting and helpful to know the meaning of the lyrics. Assuming that it is written in a male voice (which I assume because Rajamani sings it), it also makes me think about how it reverses the typical gender dynamics of the female as pining for male lover. Also, I perceive you as embodying the girl described here, not the position of the male nayak. During the announcment, would you perform the male voice or the female? What would you be wearing? Would it be the same thing as you wear in the video?
6) How does it relate to "queering abhinaya"
I think the confusion of different cultural norms in the music and aharya abhinaya constitutes a form of cultural queering. I don’t see too much direct queering of gender and sexuality, though some of that might emerge if you consider some of my comments about male/female voice…
7)Any other thoughts?
Just wondering about lighting and other production aspects. Right now it is pretty cold white lighting and I notice the lamp in the background behind you, as well as the seam where the two walls meet. Do you want a warm look? A cold one? Do you want to place yourself in an environment or have a clean backdrop so as not to distract from your abhinaya?
You might find La Pocha Nostra's "Hoodoo Possession" to resonate in interesting ways, though it comes from a super different cultural context (blackface in the US): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxGGIxrxelA
ReplyDeleteI come to this with very little knowledge about the project so am just viewing this as a standalone film.
ReplyDelete1) what do you take away from the video?
There is a woman who is distracted at first (her eyes flitter at the beginning) and who prepares for a performance (masquarade). There is a juxtaposition of her whitening her face and the fact that all this leads to her performing Indian dance gestures/movements
2) What do you take away from the song?
Sounded like something from the past.
3) how does the video relate to the song?
I was not sure - i actually wanted more clues on how it relates. There is clearly a melodic and rhythmic relationship, but I am not sure about how the lyrics relate to the song.
4) Does the video stand alone?
For me, I would need something more to help me understand what I watching. While it is intriguing in how it raises so many questions, I am not really sure about what/why I am watching this right now. I don't necessarily need an explanation, just something more to help me stay intrigued on where this is going to lead.
5) I was thinking of starting with a live announcement (like the ones Janet critiques)- kind like this:
"The next item is a traditional love song. It says:
I have been in love with a girl for many years.
One day, the girl will have to find out one day! Whenever I see her red red lips, with her ever happy laugh, I want to do everything to have the chance to taste them one day.
Why does she keep me waiting, why does she only smile from afar.
Like a hidden flower I grow close to her.Whenever I see her I think- let me wait some more time.
But today I will tell her for certain
The reasons are enough!"
What do you think of that idea?
This feels a little heavy handed to me.... I also feel that it would undercut the interpretive space created by the piece's ambiguity.
6) How does it relate to "queering abhinaya"
I am not familiar with how you are now defining this so cannot really comment on this.
7)Any other thoughts?
These a little things but, i felt that they could've helped sustain the 'world/atmosphere" created by the video:
- I was really bothered by the lamp behind the performer. I just breaks her silhouette in a way that I find disruptive. Not sure if it was intentional?
- I wanted the dance / gesture portion to go further (wilder? more intense? carnevalesque?) - I also wished that that moment would''ve given me more a clue about the 'white powder" and how the performer relates to it.