Connecting in times of Physical Distancing: Little Joys

Wait we already were physically distant...

But now it's heightened...As many of us are shuttered up at home due to trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19, PNC has been communicating mostly over What's App to keep in quick and supportive contact.  We were interested in keeping our process going but Cynthia is the only one actually able to make dances right now due to other obligations like writing and a kid.

So we decided to give Cynthia idea invitations to make movement.  So, here goes....


I am inspired by Sandra's facebook and Instagram posts.
Sandra has been posting beautiful photos that she titles "Little Joys" that show the scenic beauty and details around her her home and out her window, in appreciation of being where we are.

Cynthia, make some movement inspired by Sandra's photos!

Anyone else who wants to join, post a link to your video in the comments... we would also love to see folks’ own “little joys” photos-a nice way to join if you don’t consider yourself a mover

Cynthia's movement response:

Sandra's photo that Cynthia responded to:



Other "Little Joys" photos from Sandra:

  

Back to the Beautiful LBC, climactic moment

I have been working for the past month with Cal State Long Beach students to craft a performance piece inspired by Post Natyam's Back to the Beautiful installation based on water, borders and memory.

We will be shooting footage of the dancers in the cemented San Gabriel river which has huge wall like sides at the end of this week.  The river was cemented to control it from flooding but we also have major droughts in Southern CA, so the water is often just a trickle.  The cementing of walls and controlling of the path of the water feels like a strong metaphor for the border wall that is being erected and the controlling of the paths of the real migration stories that some of the cast members have experienced, including deportation.

Here I share the climax of the piece based on two migration stories from the performers themselves.  This follows a windy migration section, and a militaristic wall section:


Fight the Fear, Draft from Shyamala Moorty on Vimeo.
password b2blbc

Note:
The bucket of water that the singer is at will be up left on a slightly raised platform - she may actually be in it.

The rest of the performers will be center stage.

The performers are still learning their lines and so you may see them reading from a paper.

Here is the script:  black is spoken, purple is sung...

Walls.

--

Ahhhh (looking in water)

--

My whole life, I’ve had walls in my face.

--

Fluid memory (elbow in?)

--

There’s just always a wall, always a fear, a layer to tear in order to be

--

ooooooo (water to face or hair dip)

--

Devuelveme mi rostro, I exist, I am not a piece of paper

--

Devuelveme mi rostro (leg moving in)

--

Undocumented?  I am here, working hard.

--

Aqui (other leg)

--

I am here. 

--

Hmmmm (continuing underneath, )

--

But there’s always that fear

I fight the fear

Always that fear…

I fight the fear.

Always that fear…

I fight the fear!

Always that fear…

I fight the fear!

Always that fear…

I fight the fear!

Always that fear…

I fight the fear! I fight the fear - I fight the fear - I fight the fear! 

sing/scream!

Questions:
1.  What are you drawn to? what do you experience/notice?

2.  Is there anything else you could imagine the singer doing with the water?  (after this she will use it to affect the other dancers in the next section and then will start the passing of bottles through the performers and into the audience)

3.  Anything you would adjust/change?

4.  Any other thoughts?

Borders Resurfacing: Shyamala's creative response 2 remix

Poem re-mix

Stumbling onto this edge between sand and water.

Roaring. Constant. Ebbing.

So much can be hidden under water

no bridges

No one gets to cross over

Stumbling onto this edge between

beauty, and and and peace.

I exhale

yellow heart shaped leaves decomposing in the mud

Stumbling between

Patrolling the water from the air
For sharks...waste... people....

Stumbling

People are risking their lives to save their lives.

Right now. 



Untitled from Shyamala Moorty on Vimeo.

password: resurface

Dramaturgical connections: Final Round

So the final step for our journey so far…

In order to start writing the final round, I started by not only watching the assignment videos repeatedly, but also to read the blog and the dramaturgical connections that have developed thus far. From there I have picked up some themes which have served as keywords for me and based on them I have come up with this current idea.

The keywords that I have gathered are – Racial politics, Gender, Cross-dressing, Body, Commerce, Hindi Cinema (Bollywood), political cabaret (If I am missing any please do add). The concepts that we developed based on our research and the assignments created are – suspense and surprise, hiding and revealing, costume and makeup. So bringing together all these ideas and collating the images that we have generated, here is my final round of dramaturgical connections.

The opening I see as a collection of stills/photographs of objects that we have appeared in the assignment videos, like matchstick, cork, bar stool, coins, necklace, saree, hat, tie, shoes, and etc. (if there are other things we can think of to add to this list, please do). All these images, which seem to be mismatched, come one after the other like a flipbook and end on an image of a pair of eyes. From here we see a series of eyes appearing on the screen, morphing one into the other. These then finally end on Shyamala’s eye and we see khol appearing on it. Then another sequence begins, which is like a stop motion video of different body parts being dressed up. This leads to the make-up sequence that was proposed in the last dramaturgical connections.

Here we however do not see any masculine clothing appear on anyone’s body. When Cynthia works on her section of dressing up, she could focus on a more on wearing a courtesan/tawaf like costume and jewellery. Everyone else could work with props and costumes which reflect more of the costumes from cabaret artistique, its bollywood version and belly dancing like costumes and improvisations of it, which got included in cabaret performances. So ostrich feathers, naqabs, ornaments for the head and hair, gloves, fish net stockings etc. could be surely used. Here we could bring in the split screen ideas that we had from dramaturgical connections from round 1 and work with lights focused on different body parts and then the formation of a singular dancing body(s) and individual dance sections.

I feel the last performance in this section could be Sandra’s as her performance could lead to her saree getting stuck somewhere and be stretched out to form a screen. From behind the animal print screen, clothes could be thrown out to indicate the performance of a striptease. Only the shadow/silhouette of the performer should be visible from behind the sheerness of the saree. A pile of clothes could collect and the last one to come out could be the bra. This might lead to the camera being turned to the sari screen and the viewers expecting a naked female body to appear. But instead we see 3 maybe 4(depending on the number of participants) figures appearing from behind the screen wearing men’s clothes. Here we have a split screen again and we see all the performers wearing men’s suits and appear on screen. Each suit is different from the other, one is like what Cynthia was wearing, the second like the one Shyamala had – like Victor and Victoria and Sandra comes out wearing a third. Their faces however are all hidden. Either a hat or a scarf covers them. A common choreography could be worked out so that everyone can perform one movement phrase in unison and the real their faces. Here, each performer reveals something. Cynthia could reveal her have the half black face, Shyamala her moustaches and Sandra could unbutton her shirt and reveal a bra. But this has to lead somewhere, so Cythia’s section could lead into the choreography phrase she has already created, Shyamala’s could also lead to the phrase she has made in the last assignment and Sandra could create a new phrase.

I don’t have a concluding visual yet, buy like how Shyamala drops a coin at the end, so maybe each performer could drop an object that comments on the aspect of cabaret that they have dealt with. 

Dramaturgical Connections: Round 2

The beginning…

What stood out for me the most and very ‘dramatically’, from this round of assignment videos, was the use of make-up and costume. These elements have compelled me to think about the female body, it being covered-hidden, uncovered-revealed and how the body can be ‘othered’ by wearing a garb and make-up like in Cynthia’s work. It was very interesting to see how the act of putting on make-up became more like that of wearing a mask and the choice of costume added another layer of meaning to a persona being created. The choice of the costume and its use, like in Sandra and Cynthia’s work helped me re-look at the saree and the conventional male attire respectively and read new meaning into them. The way Shyamala used her kohled eyes, Anjali juxtaposed the decorative feminine costume and the masculine movements, all lead me to think about these two elements very strongly.

I feel this episode could be a prequel to the episode thought of earlier, for round 1. Here we could individually shoot sections of everyone dressing up but only certain parts of the body being revealed at a time. The episode however could start with a series of images that are a collection of snapshots of symbols, objects/props that can be linked with terms like ‘exotic’, ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’ and etc. So the episode could start with the image of the matchstick being lit and the block being burnt for soot, maybe something like a white powder can or a skin tanning spray can being opened. We can think of more images that can later be intercut with the images of putting on make-up and creating a new identity.

Next we see all 4 performers with bare faces and bare shoulders, placed on a screen, two on top and two below. We see their profiles and different colours are sprayed on to that side of their face, so as to change their skin-tones. Or the images could also be of the performers doing make-up very unconventionally, like Cynthia putting soot on her face. The idea here is to compare the action to that of putting a base layer of make-up but then not to use conventional base make-up for it. However, whether spray-painting the face or using different materials to do a base, the colours being put on the skin could be ranging from white/fair and going to black/dark.

All performers should be placed in front of a white background, with their facial profiles facing the camera on which we see the colouring of the skin, taking place. So if we spray paint on their faces we see the extra colour hitting/collecting on the background wall and spreading unevenly while spraying. Then we all four performers supporting thick layers of paint on half of their faces. The colours put on their faces should be so dense that it appears as though they are wearing half-masks. So here we again go back to our idea of using a split screen and see all the performers first in profile and then facing the camera frontally, so that we see their half coloured half bare (original sink-tone) faces clearly.

It will be very interesting if the extra paint from the spraying lands on the background wall and forms a silhouette of everyone’s face, so that their facial features become prominent. This collection of their silhouettes could then come as a separate shot, rather one image could dissolve into another and this could stay on the screen for a few seconds before we moved into the next round of images. 

Then we could have each performer focus on one facial feature or body part and capture them while in the act of doing make-up or dressing up a bit more conventionally. Like we could focus on only Shyamala’s eyes and her putting kohl, Cynthia’s lips and putting on the red lipstick, Anjali’s hands and her maybe wearing a pair of net gloves or some bangles or some middle eastern jewellery on her hand and Sandra could be dressing her feet or stretch a pair of fishnet stockings over her bare legs.

The next shot could then be of pieces of costume flying around, like a men’s shirt being flung, a gloved had putting on a large ostrich feather on a waist band or a small one on a bun on the head, an animal print material being stretched across the screen, and a top hat being placed on a head. We could probably end this section with an image of Shyamala’s eye blinking once at the audience, through her fingers. From here the next section can start and we see the camera focused on Sandra’s legs.    

Cabaret Travels, Reading Assignment 2.

I have chosen some short texts, commentaries and original texts in English translation, about German Cabaret, 1890-1920, and 1920 -1940.

From the book:  Laurence Senelick, Cabaret Performance, Volume II Europe 1890-1920   New York: PAJ Publications, 1989).

please read the following explanatory and and original descriptions: pp. 66-71
AND 1 of the performance texts: either 72-73, or pp 76-100


From the book: Laurence Senelick, Cabaret Performance, Volume II: Europe 1920-1940 (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1993)
please read the following explanatory and and original descriptions
2-22 (includes picture pages), 24-25; 238-239; 248-250.

AND 1 of the performance texts: 81-83, or 89-90; or 251-255; or 260-267

In your reading please pay attention to the specificities of German political cabaret that particularly strike you. If possible, in your written response try to draw a connection/create a dialogue between those striking specificities and  your chose focus from assignment 1.

Though there are many sections, they are short and sweet and fun individual readings! I personally could not stop reading, so feel free to read all the performance texts if you have the time and if you enjoy them!

Written Responses DUE on July 10!

Cabaret Travels: Shy's Creative Response 1 - Magic hastas

So following my interest in Minai's alapadma (or maybe Kathakali or Balanese dance hands) to jazz hands theory, I primarily worked on exploring alapadma developing in and out of jazz hands.  Following descriptions of Bob Fosse, I also tried emphasizing a few other isolations in eyes and even eyebrows (I had heard of Fosse using those!)    In my research one of his dancers explained how "We've Got Magic To Do" from Pippin, which is the same song I used, often is performed without the correct intention.  Thus, I also became interested in how Fosse keeps movements and emotions small and understated and likes to create a darker, often sexual tension under the surface. 

Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/68277114
password: Cabaret
Cabaret Travels 1: Magic To Do from Shyamala Moorty on Vimeo.

Feedback questions:
1.  Do you find anything interesting in terms of the movement choices?  Please point out any moments that stand out to you, or that you could imagine developing or exploring further.

2. I am interested in Bob Fosse's tactics of creating sexual tension because it relates to our previous work on courtesans and how the classical Indian dance forms that they practiced have often been de-sexualized.  It seems the opposite of the stereotype I have of the jazz dancing that evolved out of Fosse's work as an over-sexualized, unsubtle commercial form.  I was working on tapping into what I feel Fosse's original intent was here, but am not sure what purpose I might serve by doing so.  When reading about Cabaret I was very interested in the possibility for satire and political commentary but couldn't come up with a clear idea to make this study take that route.  What, if anything, could this study be accomplishing?  Does it comment on alapadma and jazz hands or anything else in any meaningful way?  If not, how could I modify it to contain some sort of subversion, satire, or political commentary? 

3.  Any other comments, ideas, and/or connections to cabaret or others' creative responses?

Long-Distance Cabaret Project

We're very excited to be embarking on a new long-distance creative exchange with Delhi-based director, Aditee Biswas.  This project, entitled Cabaret Travels, explores cabaret’s translations across South Asia, Europe, and the US.

REVISED SCHEDULE
ASAP: Written Assignment #3
Oct 7: Feedback on Written Assignment #3 due
Oct 9: Shy gives Creative Assignment #3
Nov 1: Creative Assignment #3 due
Nov 8: Aditee posts dramaturgical connections (perhaps this one takes a look at everything created thus far?)
Nov 10-23: Create ½ way online documentation (sharing tools with the field/public that’s replicable for other people in the ensemble the field) AND distribution plan 
Nov 24-30: disseminate

ORIGINAL SCHEDULE

May 1-June 14: Aditee gives Assignment 1

May 22: Written Assignment Due

May 29: Written Feedback Due

June 12: Creative Assignment Due

June 19: Creative Feedback Due; Aditee posts "Director's Post"

June 26: Babli gives Reading Assignment 2

July 10: Written Assignment 2 Due

July 14: Babli gives Creative Assignment 2

Aug 6: Creative Assignment 2 Due

Aug 13: Feedback Due

Aug 15: Aditee posts "Director's Post" 2

Aug 20: Shy gives Reading Assignment 3

Sept 11: Written Assignment 3 Due

Sept 16: Shy gives Creative Assignment 3

Sept 30: Creative Assignment 3 Due

Oct 7: Feedback Due

Oct 9: Aditee posts "Director's Post"

----------------

Oct 10-Nov 15: create ½ way online documentation, sharing tools with the field/public that’s replicable for other people in the ensemble the field, not just highlights

Nov 15-30: disseminate