For my study, I did a sound recording of the text of one of the reviews of Maud Allan's performance of The Vision of Salome from The Labour Leader.
Here is one take of just my voice:
Here is another take, where my voice is accompanied by the music from another Oriental dancer's work, Ruth St. Denis' "Delirium of Senses," the culmination of her choreography, Radha.
It would have been interesting to use the actual music from A Vision of Salome, but I haven't been able to nail down what that was yet. Some say that she danced to original music by Belgian composer Marcel Remy; others claim that it was an arrangement by Remy of Strauss' "Dance of the Seven Veils." See, for instance, Clair Rowden's "Whose/Who's Salome?: Natalia Trouhanowa, A Dancing Diva" (Ashgate Publishing, 2013, 75).
Here are a couple links for prop/costume ideas:
pearls: https://www.amazon.com/Zivyes-Fashion-Pearls-Necklace-Accessories/dp/B06ZYZFXZS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1548740578&sr=8-2&keywords=pearls+costume+jewelry
severed head: https://www.amazon.com/Forum-Novelties-Severed-Halloween-Haunted/dp/B01LOUWV74/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1548740803&sr=8-8&keywords=severed+head
QUESTIONS:
(1) What is your emotional or visceral response to my reading? Is it too over the top? What kind of person do you imagine me to be (personality, gender, class, etc.)?
(2) How might you imagine this material staged / embodied / performed? How would the audience be involved in that?
(3) Which version do you prefer, and why?
(4) Other thoughts?
Here is one take of just my voice:
Here is another take, where my voice is accompanied by the music from another Oriental dancer's work, Ruth St. Denis' "Delirium of Senses," the culmination of her choreography, Radha.
It would have been interesting to use the actual music from A Vision of Salome, but I haven't been able to nail down what that was yet. Some say that she danced to original music by Belgian composer Marcel Remy; others claim that it was an arrangement by Remy of Strauss' "Dance of the Seven Veils." See, for instance, Clair Rowden's "Whose/Who's Salome?: Natalia Trouhanowa, A Dancing Diva" (Ashgate Publishing, 2013, 75).
Here are a couple links for prop/costume ideas:
pearls: https://www.amazon.com/Zivyes-Fashion-Pearls-Necklace-Accessories/dp/B06ZYZFXZS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1548740578&sr=8-2&keywords=pearls+costume+jewelry
severed head: https://www.amazon.com/Forum-Novelties-Severed-Halloween-Haunted/dp/B01LOUWV74/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1548740803&sr=8-8&keywords=severed+head
QUESTIONS:
(1) What is your emotional or visceral response to my reading? Is it too over the top? What kind of person do you imagine me to be (personality, gender, class, etc.)?
(2) How might you imagine this material staged / embodied / performed? How would the audience be involved in that?
(3) Which version do you prefer, and why?
(4) Other thoughts?
1. first one made me laugh, felt humrous, ridiculous. Second one felt more like being drawn into a mystery or like I was being sucked in by a magician casting a spell on me.
ReplyDelete2. first one I envision the person being talked about, a femme person just doing something really small and subtle or even internal as a counterpoint. perhaps she is doing something ordinary and then stopping in tracks when hearing these ridiculous things about her, then continuing only to make a face when hearing something else, etc.
Second one I see the speaker, dressed like a magician or circus ring leader and waving a baton while describing. Or maybe enticing people to come inside onto a tent or somewhere where they are promised to see the object of the description.
3. Not sure, both are interestingly so different. I lean slightly toward the first because it made me laugh. I felt the ridiculousness of the words more.
4. not other thoughts at this time.
Re: 2 -- when I recorded the version without the music, I was listening to the music through my headphones, which is why my reading is so melodramatic -- I had to compete with the music. It makes me think that it could be funny if I had on headphones and was watching a video on my cell phone (which the audience couldn't see) and saying this text live in an equally absurd way.
Deleteha! sounds interesting
Deleteactually, what I want to say at 4 is that it could be done one way at one point, and then come back later with a different tone. Sort of theme and variation.
ReplyDelete1)
ReplyDelete1) Overly dramatic, not sure if supposed to be funny; sounds more “male” but only cause you asked. It has a humour. It does grab me. It does make me wonder and question.
2) Situated in time and aesthetic. More serious. I pay more (critical) attention to the context, even though it is simultaneously harder to hear. I found it effective.
2)
In an installation setting – which we not have to the same extent due to time constraint- I could imagine audience members listening to a selection of read texts read to different, deliberately chosen, music – maybe one “tribal fusion” from 21st century, a minimalist electronic music score, an Indian/Arabic music piece, etc…..
3)
see 1