Pre-show score

Pre-show installation Score:

1) Letters to Maud

Version 1) "Text" station

1 performer (in costume) sitting. Audience member (up to 3 or  4 at a time need to sit down opposite her. Performer reads Verna's letter(s) to Maud Allan to the small group of audience members. One or two letters at a time. We could play with reading to a small group vs changing audience members we address: one letter to one audience member


Version 2)

Three of us mingle among audience in the intermission - we walk up to them, address them a Maud, lead them a letter

subjectobject scores

Inspired by the following questions, here are a couple of scores I imagined. The first is for the audience and the second is for 3 performers.

Questions: 

-how are we asking the audience to participate in desire? -can we ask the audience to participate in desire?

-who is the subject and who is the object?

-does the audience have a voice?

-what can the audience take home? (pearls?)

-do the participants ever change roles? Does dancer become camera person etc.?

Score for audience

Preparation:

Tape off 3-4 play areas of different shapes and sizes, inside the taped area invitingly arrange cushions, 7 silky scarves (aka dance of the 7 veils that Salome was said to have done), and bowls of pearls (some strung and some loose).   For each play area place a video camera on a tripod at varying distances from it.  

Installation:

During 20-ish min time,  while audience is roaming freely, play music that has bits of the publicity about Maud Allan in it.  

Prompt for entering the play area:  

        An invitation to play!

Play!

Decorate!

Feel the textures!

Take Selfies!

Enjoy!  

Upon entering you are giving your permission to be video-taped.

Feel free to interact with the camera, or not, in any way you wish including blocking or revealing what you want to be seen. 

At any time you wish, you may step out of the area or take a turn at the camera or just watch from the inside or outside.

Prompt for viewing through the camera:  

An invitation for mindful viewing

As you look through the camera, notice the frame around the edges

Compare what you see through the camera and what you can see beyond

Be aware of how you position your own body to look through the camera.

Imagine being an outside viewer and notice how you are adding to the picture.

Be mindful if others are waiting a turn and you may choose to take a turn in the dance and play area or move to the outside to watch.  

Score for 3 performers

Set a circle performance area with cushions, 7 scarves, bowls of pearls

Set a dancer/viewer area outside the performance area looking in

Set a camera inside the performance area looking out and live feed projected on scarves 

Set a text reading area outside the perimeter of the performance area looking in

Round 1: Original

Perform text, movement and video as originally created in the 2014  group study

Round 2:  Text remix

Camera person chooses one item to decorate another performer.  That performer moves to the camera position and the camera person takes the other performers’ place.

reader can read part or all of the text and dancer improvises in response, using 90percent of the original movement vocabulary.  The camera person follows the dancer.  

Round 3:  Movement remix

Camera person chooses one item to decorate another performer.  That performer moves to the camera position and the camera person takes the other performers’ place.

Dancer improvises using 90percent of the original movement vocabulary, the reader follows repeating all or parts of the text, fragmenting and repeating, the camera person responds to the dancer, and occasionally moves over to the text reader.  

Round 4: Camera remix

Camera can choose who or what to film, the dancer responds to the camera using 90 percent of the original movement vocabulary but is also able to use the scarves or other means to block or modify the viewing experience.  The text is read in fragments and even the syllables are fragmented and extended.  

Questioning Maud Allan

For my new role as creative process facilitator, I have been guiding the group to open up the possibilities around the collaborative study "the sins of such wonderful flesh" using the Question Formulation Technique, which I was recently trained in at the Music Center's Education Division.  While the context was to use it to guide our work in arts education in schools, I was immediately struck how it could be used in creative processes as well.  Thus, we watched the original study "sins of such wonderful flesh", and followed the Question Formulation Technique Process as detailed below:

PROCESS:

A. Watch group study:   "sins of such wonderful flesh"

B. Brainstorm as many questions as can related to the video
-don’t stop to answer or discuss any questions

1. -write down every question exactly as it was stated
   -change any statement into a question

C. identify which questions are open and which are closed

D. change one closed question to an open one and vice versa

E. each choose top 3 questions

F.  Discuss 

We found the process stimulating and so we decided to categorize all 
of our questions, see below where I have also highlighted ones that 
are "red hot" because many, if not all of us, were the most interested 
in each categ
ry.  The orange ones are still "hot" because at least two 
of us was most interested in them.  The yellow categories are "warm"
because at least one of us was most interested in them. We created 
categories as we went and so there is some duplication of questions 
that fit in more than one category.

CATEGORIES:

RECIPRICOL GAZE THEORY (GAZE/SPECTATOR, 
SUBJECT/OBJECT, COMMUNICATION/RECEPTION 
THEORY)
-how are we asking the audience to participate in desire? -can we ask
 the audience to participate in desire? 
-who is the subject and who is the object? 
-does the audience have a voice?
-what can the audience take home? (pearls?) 
-do the participants ever change roles? Does dancer become camera 
person etc.? 
-who is the performer?(How much is the audience also the performer?  
What does that mean for the audience? How to make that the 
gaze of the audience?  Is Maude Allen the performer and all of 
us are the audience? Is it all of our gaze reacting to her?  
Are we all spectators of her?)
-why is the camera moving? 
-who is the voice? 
-(Who is Cynthia representing when reading the text?)
-is the voice the viewer/camera or is the voice the person we are 
seeing?
-how does live audience fit into this? 
-how does this piece negotiate visibility and invisibility/who is seen 
and not seen?
-who will interact with the audience?
-If live, would camera be on stage or in the audience?
-where would the performer be seated?  On stage or in the audience?
-who is the performer? Sandra or the camera person? is everyone 
the performer?
-how would the piece change if another body was being filmed by the 
camera?
-what costume could further help contextualize?
-what is the relationship between the digital and the live?
-does Maude Allen have a voice? 
-are we objectifying Maude Allen (-yes we are and what else are we 
doing?)
-if we are objectifying Maude Allen, what else are we doing?

LOCATION/SITE
-how does Maude Allen’s trans`national trajectory between Canada, 
Europe and the US relate to the PNC process? 
-what context would this piece want to be performed in?  
theater/gallery/livingroom/woods/academic, conference/museum? 
-where does this happen?
-why is there sunshine?
-If live, would camera be on stage or in the audience?
-where would the performer be seated?  On stage or in the audience?
-what is the relationship between the digital and the live?
-does the performer ever move in space?

VOICE/AUTHORSHIP
-would the dancer ever speak? Would the speaker ever dance? 
-does the audience have a voice?  
-are we dancing with ghosts?  
-who is the author?  
-who is the voice?-(Who is Cynthia representing when reading the text?)
-who wrote the text? (-Authorship, gender, point of view, which text?)
-how could we make the voice sound better?
-does Maude Allen have a voice?
-are we authenticating Maude allen/providing her with cultural authority?

DRAMATURGY/PROCESS

CREATIVE METHODOLOGY
-how does Maude Allen’s trans`national trajectory between Canada, 
Europe and the US relate to the PNC process?  
-what can we do with pearls? ( props ideas for performers, for 
audience?) 
-what can the audience take home?
-what role does mediatization take/conceptually?   
-how does this triangulation between speaker/camera/
spectator-performer relate to the 3 Avanthi Meduri roles of 
dancer/musician/text in abhinaya improvisation? 
-what costume could further help contextualize?
-how could we make the voice sound better?
-is the voice recorded or live?
-is there any music?
-does the performer ever move in space? 
-how does this piece want to be expanded? 
-do the participants ever change roles? Does dancer become camera person etc.?

QUEERNESS/POLITICS
-how does Maude Allen’s trans`national trajectory between Canada, 
Europe and the US relate to the PNC process?
-how are we asking the audience to participate in desire? -can we ask 
the audience to participate in desire? 
-how does the past influence the present and vice versa 
-would the dancer ever speak? Would the speaker ever dance?
-what is the role of whiteness? 
-how does forefronting Maude Allen’s queerness add anything to our 
understanding  
-why this piece now?
-what role does mediatization take/conceptually? (queer the camera 
gaze)    
-what can the audience take home?   
-how does this piece negotiate visibility and invisibility/who is seen 
and not seen?
-what is the relationship between past and present?
-how would the piece change if another body was being filmed by the 
camera? 
-are we dancing with ghosts?
-are we authenticating Maud Allan/providing her with cultural authority?
-how is this piece queer? 
-are we objectifying Maud Allan (-yes we are and what else are we 
doing?)
-if we are objectifying Maud Allan, what else are we doing?   
-what do we make of Maud Allan’s queerness?

LEGACY, LINEAGE
-how does Maude Allen’s trans`national trajectory between Canada, 
Europe and the US relate to the PNC process?
-how does the past influence the present and vice versa?
-what can we do with pearls? 
-what is the role of whiteness? 
-are we dancing with ghosts?  

-how does this piece negotiate visibility and invisibility/who is seen 
and not seen?
-who will interact with the audience?
-where is the historical archive of Maud Allan? (-how does the 
historical archive circulate 
within the piece?)
-what is the relationship between past and present?
-is there any music? (memory)
-does Maude Allen have a voice?
-are we authenticating Maude allen/providing her with cultural 
authority?

Top guiding questions (in no particular order): 1. how are we asking the audience to participate in desire? 
 -can we ask the audience to participate in desire? 

2. how does Maude Allen’s trans`national trajectory between 
Canada, Europe and the US relate to the PNC process?

3. how does the past influence the present and vice versa?

4. what can we do with pearls?

Cynthia's Creative Response #5: Borders Resurfacing

For my assignment, I decided to expand my water ritual score from Assignment #4 into a participatory art project, Mixing Waters.  The project involves mailing bottles of water from the San Lorenzo River to people in other places, who would then do the mixing waters score.  You can read about the project here: http://www.cynthialinglee.com/mixing-waters/.  A good number of friends from different places in the US have agreed to do the score.

Partway through mailing out the bottles of water, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston.  Harvey has been called the worst storm to ever hit the United States.  Houston is my hometown, where I still have family; it is the fourth largest and most diverse city in the US (yes, even more than LA).  It is also a center of petrochemical production and has a laissez faire approach to zoning, all of which will complicate the recovery efforts from the extreme flooding that has occurred.  

I decided to take my remaining bottles of San Lorenzo water and do a durational ritual action connecting the 1955 flooding of Santa Cruz's last Chinatown to the current and ongoing devastation in Texas and Louisiana.  The ritual draws on baibai, Han Taiwanese practices of ancestral worship, as well as being somewhat inspired by my existing performance art piece, Lost Chinatowns.  I decided to do a ritual for every day that it kept raining (and as of Sept 1, it's still raining).  Harvey made landfall on August 25, and I didn't start till the 28th, so the first three days are missing.  

Password for all videos: "harvey"

Note: the documentation is imperfect (and given its ritual nature, it didn't make sense to re-film anything), and for some reason the Aug 31 video is flipped 90 degrees.  I'll fix that when I have some spare time.

Day 4: August 28, 2017

Mixing Waters San Lorenzo-Harvey 1 from Cynthia Ling Lee on Vimeo.

Day 5: August 29, 2017

Mixing Waters San Lorenzo-Harvey 2 from Cynthia Ling Lee on Vimeo.

Day 6: August 30, 2017

Mixing Waters San Lorenzo - Harvey 3 from Cynthia Ling Lee on Vimeo.

Day 7: August 31, 2017

Mixing Waters San Lorenzo - Harvey 4 from Cynthia Ling Lee on Vimeo.

Day 8: September 1, 2017

Mixing Waters San Lorenzo - Harvey 5 from Cynthia Ling Lee on Vimeo.

QUESTIONS:
(1) How does the ritual make you feel?  What effect does its durational, repeating nature have on you?  How do the variations from day to day register for you?
(2) Does this piece convey anything related to solidarity or coalition building to you?  Might any of its techniques be useful to us in the larger Borders Resurfacing project, as we think about how to connect our local issues/contexts?
(3) As imperfect as the documentation is, do you feel that it is strong enough as a stand-alone project to share publicly?
(4) Any other feedback or questions?

Cynthia's Creative Response #4: Borders Resurfacing

For my creative response, I created a water ritual score, which could be done by an audience member or another artist.

Water Ritual Score: Confluence

(1) Gather some water from a local body of water, preferably one that has personal, geopolitical, or historical resonance.
(2) Hold your bottle of Salaach river water in your hands.  As you hold it, notice what images come up -- of natural beauty, personal memories, news images, etc.
(3) Hold your container of local water in your hands, again noticing what images come up.
(4) Pour the two vessels of waters into one container.  As you do so, imagine the histories, memories, and images of the two bodies of water mixing, meeting, blending, and submerging in each other.
(5) Use the mixed waters to nourish a plant, either indigenous to this soil or a migrant plant (transplant).
(6) Watch the plant grow and continue to care for it.


I did this score myself with water from the San Lorenzo River, which as you all know, was formerly the site for the last Chinatown in Santa Cruz, and water from the Salaach, the border between Austria and Germany in Salzburg.  

(1) Gathering Water

 (2) Salaach

I remember dipping an amber Nalgene bottle into your waters, the icicle-like sheaths of water falling fast from the dam, algae slipping between toes. Round smooth river rocks, sunlit skies, waters meandering green and blue, feet teasing, talking, fighting with each other. How close the other side of the border, how seemingly effortless the crossing, un-policed. Stones gathered in rings, charred stone. Blackened vestiges of campfires lit by refugees, small fires of hope, re-homing, unbelonging.

(3) San Lorenzo

today you were sandy, summery, overgrown with yellow flowering fennel, pink spires, the bees crazy with heat and pollen.  a redfaced man asked me for a quarter, blessed me when I said no.  the river was higher today, the stones of the riverbed all underwater.  I remembered the swollen brown winter floods, tree trunks drifting fast and dangerous, onlookers gaping from the concrete bridge.  across the way, a group of latino men lounge on blankets.  I think of the working class Chinese who lived and played on the riverbanks in the early 1900s, of who is seen as suspicious, now vs. then. 

(4) Mixing Waters
 

password: lorenzo

Water Ritual - Confluence

(5) Nourishing Life
I used the Salaach and San Lorenzo waters to nourish a small bunch of wildflowers gathered from the banks of the San Lorenzo.  They included California golden poppies, flowering fennel, and more. The water and the bouquet smell of licorice.

Intermixed Poem (as per Shy's suggestion in the comments):

blood run performance

Here is the footage of blood run from my performance at Highways in June 2016!

password: "bloodline"

"Super Ruwaxi: Origins" at Highways

On Friday, August 10, Cynthia and Shyamala performed the first draft of "Super Ruwaxi: Origins" at Highways Performance Space as part of SUBVERSIVE GESTURES, an evening of queering Indian dance.  SUBVERSIVE GESTURES was part of BEHOLD!, a queer performance series curated by Highways Performance Space Artistic Director, Leo Garcia.

Note:  not seen here is Shyamala in the low left corner of the stage, doing the hands and face into a live feed camera.  So the audience actually sees her live as well as on the projection.  

Here is the video of the performance!  password "ruwaxi"

FEEDBACK QUESTIONS:
(1) What relationships do you see with the other (Un)Epic Wonder Women material?  These relationships could be narrative (ie, different super heroine characters interacting) or aesthetic (ie, use of live feed, narrator, etc).  How might you imagine the different material intersecting in performance?
(2) What moments pulled you in?  Where were you less interested?  What would you like to see further developed?
(3) Do you find the music and sound effective throughout the piece?  (For this version, we were not able to get original music composed, so the tracks should be eventually replaced in the future.)  Does there need to be music during the audience interaction?
(4) What do you think of the theatrical lighting, as far as you can tell from the video?
(5) What do you think of the different backgrounds in the live feed?
(6) How LA or US-specific is the piece and its humor?  Would it be necessary to translate some of the jokes cross-culturally, and if so, how might you imagine doing so?