"the sins of such wonderful flesh"

For our next Post Natyam process, we are developing a collaborative project that stemmed out of our Queering Abhinaya Process:

"the sins of such wonderful flesh"

Combining​ ​video​ and South Asian abhinaya (modes of expression) to queer the gaze, “the sins of such wonderful flesh” performs erotically charged desire between women​​. The work is inspired by the figure of Maud Allan​, a white female North American dance artist who toured her “Oriental" dances in Europe at the turn of the 20th century.  ​​Maud Allan was a Canadian-born, California-raised dancer whose dance career took off in Germany.  She was all the rage for a couple of years around 1908 in London, where she gave 250 performances of the Vision of Salome at the Palace Theatre. Allan was a complex figure: anti-suffrage despite being an unmarried, financially independent woman; whose longest romantic relationship was with her female secretary and lover, despite suing ​the British right-wing MP Noel​ Pemberton-Billings for accusing her of being a lesbian; who performed sexuality through the guise of Orientalist spirituality.​ ​”the sins of such wonderful flesh” asks: what would it mean for a brown female spectator to perform desire for Maud Allan-as-Salome?​  What is the difference between desire and identification (aka self-exotification)? ​How might the erotic charge and fluid reciprocity of South Asian abhinaya complicate these dynamics?

We are excited that the piece will be performed in EXPLODE! Queer Dance, curated by Clare Croft in May 2019 at UC Riverside!

Here is an early experiment:

Post Natyam Collective: Feminist Camera and Queer Desire. Experimentations. from meena murugesan on Vimeo.

concept and voice: Cynthia

choreography and performance: Sandra

videography: Meena

text: publicity for the Vision of Salome circulated by Alfred Butt, the manager of the Palace Theatre

Background:
This project started in our Los Angles residency in June 2014 with the process Queering Abhinaya. Shyamala gave an assignment to embody alternative interpretations of a text (open up, subvert, or contradict the text). In response, Cynthia chose a piece of publicity on the Vision of Salome by Maud Allan. Cynthia directed us to each create a study to subvert the original meaning of the text. Sandra's subversion led to a collaboration between Cynthia, Sandra and Meena to use reciprocal gaze theory with a live camera. Now, four years later, we are revisiting the piece with Shyamala as creative process facilitator.

*The phrase, "the sins of such wonderful flesh," is taken from piece of publicity on the Vision of Salome circulated by Alfred Butt, the manager of the Palace Theatre.

Cyn's Creative Response #2: Lexie Strikes in the Locker Room

I’ve been having some challenges doing this assignment, partially because our script for “Super Ruwaxi: Origins” is still shifting around quite a lot, and so I haven’t been sure whether it made sense to stage a scene that might get cut.  Thus I’ve decided to use the feedback process to help brainstorm visual looks or staging approaches for one of the scenes in the script, which takes place at school.  As you read, keep in mind that there are only two performers – Shy and myself – though there are multiple characters.

To give some context for this scene, it takes place at Ruwaxi’s elite prep school.  The group of popular girls at the school is called the Lipstick Brigade, headed by Lexie Luthora, with her hangers-on, Vanna Valley White (an air-headed blonde), and Minx (a cunning and jealous brunette).  Lexie is the trans-female version of Fedora Boy.  Lexie now works at the Gender Police (where Fedora Boy also worked) and has gone under cover as a high school student to try to find and destroy her nemesis, Ruwaxi.  Lexie’s name is a reference to Lex Luthor, Superman’s nemesis.  Lexie also parallels Brihannala, the female (or hijra, depending on the story) version of Arjuna when he is in hiding in the Mahabharata.  ‘Nana (short for Banana) was Ruwaxi’s childhood best friend (and first female lover, though this back-story will probably not be included in the script), but their paths have diverged since Nana opted for the assimilated, materialistic route while Ruwaxi took the nerdy, model minority route.

Also, at the moment we are imagining that Shy will play Lexie and I will play Arjuna throughout the piece, so that we play each other’s nemesis.  We are also interested in creating a distinct visual look for each world: school, home, club, Urvashi’s world.  Some preliminary visual thoughts are indicated in red. 

Lexie Strikes in the Locker Room

Lights up on the girls' locker room at Middle Kingdom High with sounds of showers and chattering girls.  Ruwaxi is deep in thought, distracted by new ideas for a paper.

RUWAXI

Ooh, I could write an extra credit paper on queer tropes in Hindu mythology through the lenses of feminist-of-color theory and Roland Barthes’ Mythologies.  

(Absent-mindedly, she slips out of her gym clothes, tucks her towel around her body, making her way towards the communal shower, soap and shampoo in hand.  Mentally thanking her mother for making her wear flip-flops, she lets her body relax into the hot stream of water, humming a seductive melody that she seemed to recall from a dream.)

(A bar of soap slides across the bathroom floor, hitting her flip flop. As RUWAXI kneels down to pick it up, LEXIE enters with the LIPSTICK BRIGADE just behind her.)

Lexie

Ahem.

(Ruwaxi looks up.)

Vanna

Ruwaxi, give her the soap already!

Ruwaxi

(visual thought bubble -- I'm thinking the following words would be expressed through imagery, not words) The suds cling to her pale pink areolas...her body so ripe yet perfectly toned...

Lexie

[in a dangerous whisper] What are you looking at?

Minx

[calculating] Yeah, Ruwaxi, do you like what you see or something?

(Lexie’s eyes widen at the sound of Ruwaxi’s name, then narrow with malice.)

Vanna

Oh my god, Ruwaxi, are you seriously a dyke?  I thought you were too busy studying to think about sex!

Lexie

So…you are Ruwaxi.  The little Oriental flower who turned out to be a hairy armpitted...

Ruwaxi

[fearful and embarrassed] I’m not looking at anything!  Sorry…

Lexie

(snaps her fingers) Shave her.

(Lexie pulls her diamond razor from her hair and grabs Ruwaxi by the wrist.  The rest of the Lipstick Brigade gathers, forcing Ruwaxi down to the slimy, tiled shower floor. Ruwaxi tries to stand up, to call forth her righteous anger, but she is gripped with fear, and as she lifts her arms, diamond flashes of razor sharpness slashed lightning-quick in a blur of hot steam, tig dha bony fingers holding Ruwaxi down bruisingly tight, dig…dig… slashing flesh and scraping away hair.  Ruwaxi is left in a heap on the shower floor, her curly armpit hair clogging the drain, blood mixing with water…)

(As a possible visual rendition of the above scene, I’m imagining my live body tangled in a typical cartoon fight sequence, perhaps a simple animation, complete with little curlicues, exclamation points, and sound effects (bam, pow, zap, etc.), mixed in with anti-lesbian epithets and bols.  For example: ouch!  I’LL &%*#*%^ TEACH YOU!  tig dha SLASH!  diga ZAP! $%^&! YOU WANT SOME OF THIS?  diga diga thai LESBIAN!  POW! diga thai BIFFF!  DYKE!  SLASH! tig dha CUNT-LOVER!) 

 (LEXIE exits with the LIPSTICK BRIGADE behind her. Nana enters after they’ve left.)

‘Nana

Are you okay, Ruwaxi?  [helps her get up and supports her] Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.

QUESTIONS:

(1) How might you imagine staging this visually given that there are only two performers?  (Options might include live feed, simple animation, pre-recorded video, audience interaction, etc.) 

(2) The blatant violence of this scene bothers me because it seems to be missing the cleverness and humorous political pointedness of the 15-minute version of the piece.  Do you have thoughts as to ways to make it both serious and light? 

(3) Thoughts about what kind of sound/music might support this scene?

(4) Any suggestions to tighten or strengthen the writing?   Other thoughts?

Queering Abhinaya assignment 2, babli

Password: mixed up
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?

Assignment 2: Abhinaya as a tool for queering

This assignment focuses on utilizing techniques and compositional strategies associated with abhinaya for queering beyond a Indian/South Asian context. Therefore, I would like you to focus on an aspect of your work, which explores a context/content/form that is not Indian/South Asian. This could, for example, be a study inspired by a specific cultural context (i.e. in my case the German context of the integration debate), by a narrative set in a specific cultural context, or a formal/aesthetic exploration/deconstruction (i.e. in the German context: a deconstruction of conceptual dance).

In your studies/creative responses, please explore abhinaya as a tool for queering while following this process in PAIRS.

1)
Choose one specific aspect of a previous study (or an idea that emerged from it), or an aspect/section of another project you are working on, which you would like to develop further by re-appropriating abhinaya for the purpose of queering (s.th. non-Indian).

2)
Pair up in the following pairs, and connect with your assignment partner:
Cynthia- Meena
Shyamala-Babli

If possible, try to work with your partner via distance, rather than in person.

3)
Have ONE exchange with your partner. Schedule one hour per partner. In this one hour, the person who's study is workshopped presents their idea/what they want to work on before you two brainstorm the study/creative response.

4)
Create your own rules as a pair for the collaboration leading up to completion and upload of the study, depending on your timelines and availabilities.


5)
HAVE FUN!!!

Babli's Assignment 1: Queering Cultural Memory

After doing the freewrite, I got completely stuck- BECAUSE the concept that emerged for the assignment was one that I could not technically execute as a study.

So here I wrote out the scenario I start from. This round, I guess is more a request for brainstorming than feedback :)

Scenario 1

Background: Sruti box

After some time:

voice over: English translation of a PADAM- it should be obvious from the narration that it is a translation (i.e. searching for words)- I am still looking for one. Have been playing with “Don’t you know my house” for now. But its not ideal.

In the middle of the stage there is a wall of bricks (loosely) stacked on top of each other – about 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall

As the voice over can be heard, a hand, from behind the “wall” is carefully pushing at one of the bricks, until it falls down to the front, leaving a whole in the wall.

The whole thing happens very gradually.

A second brick is gently gradually pushed out in a similar way.

It falls, leaving a gap.

The hands reach through, bending up, exploring the wall where a face would be.

They gradually start including hastas in their exploration of the wall, which start coinciding with the recited Padam.

As the hands keep exploring the wall, interjected with hastas they start manipulating the bricks, until one can be lifted off the top of the wall.

The focus of the hands shifts away from exploring the wall, now trying to dismantle it. This has to be done with great care. The difficulty should be visible.

For now I see the end of this during the dismantling.

THIS IS JUST AN IMAGE that came to me.

Feedback questions:

11)   What does this image suggest to you? What are your associations?

22)  Do you have suggestions on how to transform this idea into a video/performance score that actually “doable” at this experimental stage?

a.     If this were a video, do you have suggestions on approaches to shoot it/angles to pursue it?

b.     If this were live, playing with props, do you have suggestions on approaches to pursue it?

33) Any other thoughts?

Shyamala's Creative Response 1: I am (queering cultural memory)

I am (queering culture) from Shyamala Moorty on Vimeo.

password: queering

1. what is the tone of this piece for you? does it change over time?
2.  what do you experience watching it?
3.  would you like there to be more in the sound score?  if so, what?
4.  how do you feel about the length and pacing?  Does it include everything you would like or do you feel it is too repetitive?
5.  Any other feedback?

Assignment 1 - Queering Cultural Memory - Meena's Creative Response

Post Natyam Collective Assignment Feb 2014 Cultural Queering by Meena Murugesan from meena murugesan on Vimeo.

PW: disidentification

i) what stands out to you in terms of what this body doing? 

ii) how would you describe this body? 

iii) is this body doing anything subversive? 

iv) how is this body constructing its own subjecthood (if this body is indeed constructing its own subjectivity)?

v) how is the camera and/or the editing constructing (co-constructing?) this body's subjecthood?

vi) anything else?