Inspired by one of Lionel Popkins’ approaches to his full
length trio “Ruth Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” I am interested in translating
texts describing dance into alternative movement interpretations than the
original intention. In my memory of the piece, Lionel tells the
audience that he is using Ruth's dance directions of her work quite
loosely, in a similar manner to how she treated the dances from the
multiple cultures that she represented/appropriated in her work.
As we recently discussed in an in person session, abhinaya traditionally interprets texts, and
literally means to “carry across” (like the word translation). As we are queering abhinaya,
I invite us to find alternative interpretations that may open up, subvert, or even create
contrary interpretations to the original text and dance that the text was
written about.
So, find a text that describes or gives directions for how
to do a dance. Then create your
own alternate version of the dance that relates to the text but somehow
explodes the expectations of your chosen text. For example, if the text says “turn”, there may be many ways
to turn the body, or turn the perspective, or turn a body part, or to say
“turn” in various languages, or to get someone else to turn etc.
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