Cyber Chat Series Assignment, August 2011

I am interested in reflecting the part of our long distance process where we re-use or re-appropriate each other's choreographic material/ideas/products in different ways. An example of something I think has been successfully re-used and transformed over time is Anj's ]wrist[ video.

I imagine that rather then being the four square right off, that it is an additive video, staring with one idea that someone communicates in a "video call", then the next person appears in the "video call" with the first and transforms or adds into the idea, and the next and so on. So it goes from 1 to 2 squares, then adds in 3 and ends up with 4 squares.

For example: if we used ]wrist[ it could start with Cyn somehow communicating her ]wrist[ poem to us, Anjali adding the video, Shy projecting it on her back, and then Babli would be challenged to come up with a new rendition of it....or maybe there's a group moment that develops out of it.

perhaps we can figure out an additive rhythm that expands itself just as our notion of the original idea expands, or we can use something that double and triples in speed to make things build and get more exciting as more of us add in like the rhythm I use in the most recent version of "I see, but..." Or maybe it is a changing sound scape as is necessary to represent each person's stage.

As a related structure, I could also see "throwing" an imaginary choreography idea from one person to the next, like the energy ball game in the theater world. In that case perhaps it's not additive but rather something like a gesture/or a tiny bit of Abhinaya gets tossed around like an idea does as it morphs or changes. This could look something like the theater game where one person does a gesture and a sound towards another person, the receiver does back the same one, and then creates a new one that's related but different, they direct the new one to someone else....Then we could create a scrolling series of skype windows...if everyone receives from the L and throws to the r, then as they scroll of the screen a new person scrolls on to catch it...or perhaps at some point two people catch it and morph it simultaneously, etc. So, rather then each of us creating a whole individual skype call that gets stitched together, we send in tiny little responses until the "game" is complete. These responses are then stitched together.

Perhaps theater game could really take into account the geographic differences as the same or similar material gets put into different locals, interacting with the environment. Like Cyn's Bitter Salt hand walking through sand, and someone else has the hand in prairie grass and someone else in the snow, etc.


Feedback questions:

1. The above is a bunch of brainstorming on my part. Is there any part of what I said that you find particularly interesting or that even conjured up an image in your mind's eye of what it might look like? If so, please point out the part and describe what you're excited about or what you visualize it to be....

2. If we did an idea like this would you be personally be interested in using pre-existing material like ]wrist[, or starting a new chain of material specifically for the skype call to see what happens? Would you be open to trying an adapted theater game as a long distance structure?

3. would you be interested in emphasizing our plurarily, difference and distance, or in somehow creating an "end product" that we all are a part of , or both? (so rather then just different responses to the same material, building material that uses multiple people at once)?

3. Does hearing my brainstorm create any new, but related ideas for you? If so please share...
Or does hearing my brainstorm create any questions that I, and the group should address if we choose to work on this idea? or any other comments....

Cyber Chat Series: Generating ideas

After looking at the many products that have come out of our long distance process, we've decided that one thing we would like to expand is our Cyber Chat videos.  We'd like to make a series of "SKYPE calls" in collaboration with Sangita Shresthova, our dance-media collaborator.  To facilitate this, here is the next step for our creative assignment:

Please come up with a proposal for a new collective SKYPE call choreography.  Your proposal should include both thematic and compositional element(s).  You might consider what has been covered thus far in Cyber Chat 1.0 and 2.0 both thematically (administrative meeting, sympathizing between friends about a common problem) and compositionally (a sequential compositional process vs. a highly pre-choreographed one, the use of spoken rhythms).  What elements about Post Natyam or our process have not been covered yet that you would like to emphasize?  Conversely, what elements would you like to keep constant or repeat with variation?  Keep in mind that we would like to create an arc/trajectory with the series.  You may also consult with Sangita, our multimedia choreographer extraodinaire, for ideas.

Please post your SKYPE proposal by August 15, 2011 on the blog.

Mixed Bag 3.0

Here were some of the ideas we three brainstormed to include Anj in Mixed Bag:

-We were thinking that Anj would be the judgemental representative of BN tradition throughout Mixed Bag.
-Anj dances first section with us in a “pretty, feminine, Indian” costume
-as we transform (Cyn into butch and Shy into valleygirl, Anj remains in the image of feminine Indianness and looks at us with disapproval
-as we dance the chakradar (without sounds?), Anj narrates it as a "serious" padam
-Anj also tells Shy what to do in audience, but contradicting Cyn
-Dominatrix section, Anj is so shocked she can't even watch

Cyn and Shy fleshed out some of these ideas in rehearsal and came up with the following:

TAT TAT TA TUKA AMAD – VILAMBIT LAY
tat tat ta tuka: coy/shy ghunghat girl (Cyn enters between 2 scrims on tat tat, Anj enters stage L of little scrim on ta tuka)
dun dun: coy/shy ghunghat girl (Shy enters)
jiji kita: coy/shy ghunghat girl (Anj Namaskar, Cyn and Shy Salaam)
to- turun-ga: (Kathak arms circling breasts to hips)
taka/tun taka gadi gena: Shurpanaka
thai WTF?!? (Cyn and Shy do WTF to Audience, while Anj stamps prissily)
- - taka/tun taka gadi gena: Oriental doll (Shy and Cyn blinking, in place, Anj looks haughtily, maybe interaction with Cyn)
thai - - taka/tun taka gadi gena: loose woman (flailing limbs, Cyn crosses front of Anj, Shy behind, Anj stands looking shocked at others, end in diagonal with Anj in front)

ta thai – ta ta thai - - -: reverent disciple (all adab)
a thai – ta ta thai - - -: exotic dancer (sexy shoulders)
thai – ta thai – ta thai: vogueing (3 poses on each thai – vogue,
classical, and Oriental doll, Anj does 2 classical)
thai thai tat tat/ ta - -: Oriental doll (little steps on balls of
feet, end in cluster at center facing DR diagonal, faces turn to audience and smile on ta)

thai –: exotic dancer (sexy shoulders)
ta thai: reverent disciple (full body prayer to ground, dive out away from each other, Cyn DL, Shy center, Anj DR)
thai thai tat tat/ta: courtesan (put on bangle, ding on ta)
- - thai – ta thai/thai thai tat tat: sexy vagina flower (leg swings
around, opens)

ta: STD (crunch hands and toes inward, Anj no crunch)

TRANSITIONAL THEKA:
Shy: That was like so spiritual! I love authentic Indian dance, it makes me closer to my roots!

Anj: That was not traditional!

Shy: What? Oh yeah, I knew that was bad fusion. This skirt is so last century anyway, I need to go shopping! (removes skirt and crosses to costume rack)
(during Shy's lines Cyn is WTF ing her costume off and Anj walks behind others to stage L trying to gain control of situation (upset looks at Cyn and Shy) while trying to announce next item.

(Anj finally gets the mike she gets control and talks as Cyn helps Shy into boots and pink boa)
Anj: “The next item is a long lost jewel from the courts of the Tanjore Brothers, the most eminent Bharata Natyam practitioners that ever were. We have carefully reconstructed this item for your viewing enjoyment today by consulting ancient Sanskrit treatises and conducting extensive archeological research on ancient Hindu temple sculptures. This item uses a particularly rare solkattu, the rhythmic language of Indian classical dance.”

TAT TAT TA TUKA CHAKRADAR - MADHYA LAY
(Anj recites the traditional bol into mike, Cyn and Shy embody and pepper in the weird gestures)
uninhibited girl child: whee! whee!
self-flagellating: AAA! AA AAAA!
courtesan – (put on bangle, ding!) 1 2 3
reverent disciple (adab): oh my gu-ru 1 2
exotic native: ohhhhh 1 2
feminine Indian-ness (ghunghat): mmmm... 2 3-
WTF!?!: What the Fuck?!? 1 2
scared little girl: gee gee gee gee
sex-crazed maniac (male): oh baby yeah yeah yeah--
shurpanaka (sexually aggressively female): ohbaby, yeah, oh baby yeah yeah
protesting: no... --
overeager geeky student: me me me?!
oriental doll: ding! dinga linga linga linga ling 2 3 4

Anj narrates while a few sounds of the following action come out:
“Now we’ve come to the expressive portion of our dance: the timeless story of Krishna and the Gopi’s. Krishna, the dark lord, playfully cavorts with the shy milkmaids in the green pastures of Brindavan.

oriental doll vs gross guy
doll: ding ding ding a ling ling
guy: (S&M): slap slap (feet), crass - WTF?!?:
guy: (strip/lap): deedee deeee dee
doll: 1-2 ding ding ding ding (hand to mouth, blink to audience)
guy: sex-crazed maniac (crass thrusting): OH- (male yeah baby) oh-! [oh oho! 1 2 ]
doll: ding ding ding ding
guy: oh baby come to me-- (doll goes out of rhythm with ding a lings etc)
cha cha ching tak
oh you are so very yum-my--
Indian exoticism, Madonna style: like a vir-gin touched for the very first time! 2 3 4

Anj: covers mike and tries to shush us, “this is not how I taught you this item, disrespecting your teacher!”
Anj travels in to front of stage with back to audience and gestures at us with succi, etc. during apology section.

Shy: tat tat ta tuka

Cyn (disciple): don’t be mad, guru 1 2 3

Shy: tuka dun dun

Cyn: I'm so sor-ry!

Shy: Jiji kita

Cyn: Damn it – Bad bad!

Shy: To

Cyn: No...

Shy: turun-ga

Cyn: What the fuck?!?

Shy: taka tun tak

Cyn: I didn’t mean to

Shy: tigdha diga diga thai

Cyn: offend you like that

Shy: Taka tun tak

Cyn: Ami sorry

Shy: tigdha diga diga thai

Cyn: Fucking disrespectful crass whore!

Shy: taka tun tak

Cyn: I beg forgiveness

Shy: Somebody rescue me!!!!!

Cyn: Sorry guru sorry fuck it sorry!

HELPLESS VICTIM SECTION
Shy: I need a herooooooo!
Anj: Not so melodramatic, a classical dancer should be more subtle
Shy: Take me, in your arms! (into audience)
Anj: Not so Bollywood! (Goes to the audience)
Shy: tell me that you love me! don't you love me?
Anj: “where are your hasta musdras?”
Shy: "take me, don't you"
Anj: "she used be such a good disciple, but clearly she's been watching too many soap operas"
Shy: "wont' you pet my head? just pet my head!"

Cyn/mail order bride: “stop! rewind.”
Shy rewinds
Anj: “My word, tradition is so backwards these days!”
(Anj stays in audience, maybe gives up with head in hands)

Cyn/mob: dresses Shy
pushes her back in audience
Shy/hv: whimpers to a woman
Anj: (complains) Dance must always be aesthetic even when performing negative emotions
Cyn/mob: Yes, you have to look pretty!
Shy: pretty whimper
Cyn: sends Shy to a man, and tells her to sit in the lap
Anj: Our dancers are not courtesans anymore! We’ve cleaned up the dance and elevated it to the divine!
Cyn: takes shy’s hands and tells him he’s strong and rich etc. Tell ‘s shy to stick out boobies

Shy; throws up
Anj mad at Cyn for being bad influence:
“Serves you right, see what you’ve done to my best disciple! Dirty foreigners, sullying our sacred tradition!”

Cyn: that was my new prada!

TITE KATA GADIGENA DHA REDUCTION:

titekata gadigena dha x2:
Cyn: Such a stupid helpless victim, why?
Tell you to be sexy and you cry!

kata gadigena dha x2:
Shy: Yucky boobies in his face
Anj: No more plastic that's so fake

gadigena dha x2:
Cyn: Powerless and meek
Anj: Making her look cheap!

gena dha x2:
Shy: Still I’m hot!
Cyn: No you’re not!

dha dha dha:
Cyn and Anj: Pa-the-tic!

12

titekata gadigena dha x2:
Shy: What is this? Take that you bitchy pimp!
Cyn: Suddenly no helpless victim limp?

kata gadigena dha x2:
Anj n Shy: Now it’s time to make you bow!
Cyn: Dominatrix guru, how?

gadigena dha x2:
Shy: Make you toe the line!
Anj: Make her stay in time!

gena dha x2:
Shy: Sexy toy
Cyn: Sadist, oi!

dha dha dha:
Shy: mmm, mmm, mmm/Anj: dha dha dha

12

titekata gadigena dha x2:
Shy: Take the taste of leather in your mouth!
Anj: What you need is discipline you louse!

kata gadigena dha x2:
Cyn: Whip me guru whip me hard
Whip me into little shards

gadigena dha x2:
Shy: Don’t put up a fight
Cyn/Anj: Guru always right

gena dha x2:
Anj: Hold your sass --
Cyn: Beat my ass!

dha dha dha:
Anj/Shy: Dance, slave, dance!

Transition: Shy saunters off
Anj: commands Cyn silently to clean up, to go faster, etc.
Does Anj stay on stage until Cyn done or does she follow Shy off?

Lost and Found notes

I have been reworking "Losing My Tonsils Finding My Voice". It is now called "Lost and Found". I'll be posting the most recent version of it tomorrow, but I've literally lost my voice again --for real. I think this piece has a profound affect on me---go figure. Anyhow, since Shyamala and Cynthia will be helping manipulate the long white cloth as a prop in this piece, here are my ideas about the structure of the piece and where/how the cloth gets manipulated.
I begin inside the circle of white cloth. I'm talking about when I was young and free to be me with a nice robust voice all the while my feet are slapping thi thi thais and I am gesturing with backstroke alapadmas, singing alapadmas, hamsasyos of the people that silenced my innocence and slapping gesture slapped me into quietude. I talk about as I grew older, having to go under the knife and get my tonsils removed. At this point, Shy and Cyn move the cloth in front of me on the floor and it becomes the operating table. I lie down on it flat on my back until I slowly start curling up into a ball. When I get up I am fearful and rounded back, but as I try to speak and nothing comes out time and time again. Shy and Cyn start wrapping the cloth around me like a bit of a straight jacket. That fear builds to anger and I unwind from the cloth and transition into gestures that turn into full bodied movement (the jathi revised). Here, Shy and Cyn move the cloth behind me and hold it up like a screen or backdrop behind me. At the end of the jathi I stop and begin trying to yell/speak as my feet slap louder and louder (no voice coming out) At this point Cyn and SHy move the cloth in front of me so audience can only see my head and feet. We finally hear my voice at the end, my feet stop the stomping and the cloth drops to the floor---Blackout---END
Please check out the new structure changes and note that the cloth is not integrated like it will be. Also, this is a really poor performance due to my being sick and overtired
PASSWORD: anj

Long-distance Process, Long-distance Products

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In evaluating our long-distance process, we realize that there have been many outcomes of our work together.  We all felt the process was extremely rewarding, despite the fact that we did not achieve an evening length show with all four of us as live performers.  So that we are able to best assess what came out of it, here is a list of the many outcomes so far, along with production history and some ideas for future expansion:

I. LIVE PERFORMANCE WORKS

EVENING-LENGTH:

Sunoh! Tell me, Sister

An evening-length work combining multimedia storytelling and contemporary Indian dance theater to embody women’s stories of being silenced, finding voice, and the importance of sisterly community.  Created by the Post Natyam Collective with Carole Kim (multimedia design), Loren Nerell (music), Ravindra Deo (music), Mona Heinze (dramaturgy), and Sangita Shresthova (dance-media collaboration). The piece currently may be performed as a duet (Cynthia and Shyamala) or a trio (Cynthia, Shyamala, and Anjali).

Trio version performed at:

-National Asian American Theater Festival, Inner-City Arts, 6/24/11 and 6/26/11

Duet version performed at:

-University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI, 4/30/11
-University of Georgia, Athens GA, 4/21/11

-University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Champaign IL, 4/17/11

-Miles Memorial Playhouse, Santa Monica CA, 4/1/11-4/3/11

In-progress showings:

-Bootleg Dance Festival, Bootleg Theater, Los Angeles CA, 3/11.  Cyn/Shy.

-NET Micro-Fest: LA, Atwater Village Theatre, Los Angeles CA, 12/10.  Cyn/Shy.

-TeAda Works, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, Los Angeles CA, 11/10.  Cyn/Shy.

-IGNITE Festival of Contemporary Dance, Little Theatre Group, New Delhi India, 11/11/10.  Cyn/Sandra.

Ideas for further expansion: 
-Create and perform other duet/trio versions of the show.
-Curate a related show (maybe of shorter works) that includes some PN material and some material contributed by local collaborators.

SHORTER WORKS:

Ranri (widow/courtesan)

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Combining contemporary abhinaya (emotional expression in Indian dance), intimate video projections, poetic text, and haunting electro-Hindustani music, Ranri (widow/courtesan) evokes the story of Rasulanbai, a child widow from the 1960s who resisted abuse by her in-laws by escaping to become a courtesan.  Sensual, poignant, and filled with unexpected twists of expectation, the courtesan’s world is unexpectedly revealed as a place of female power and queer female-female love.  Rasulanbai’s story was taken from Oldenburg’s fieldwork on the last remaining courtesan communities of Lucknow, India.  Lucknow, famous for its singing and dancing courtesans, was one of the historical centers of North Indian classical music and kathak dance.  Currently a duet by Cynthia and Shyamala, earlier versions of the piece include a solo by Shyamala, a solo by Cynthia, and a duet by Cynthia and Sandra.

Performed in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister and at:

-Re-tracing Histories, Re-dancing the Past, Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica CA, 2/11.  Cyn solo.

-Post Natyam Unveiled, Khmer Arts Salon Series, Khmer Arts Academy, Long Beach CA, 5/10.  Shy solo.

-IGNITE Festival of Contemporary Dance, Little Theatre Group, New Delhi India, 11/11/10.  Cyn/Sandra duet.

-DISHA, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Kolkata India, 8/10.  Shy solo.

Learning to Walk Like Radha

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improvised choreography and performance: Cynthia Ling Lee
inspired by Simone Forti’s improvisation structures

traditional kathak material learned from Bandana Sen

In this semi-autobiographical solo performance, a talking dancer negotiates a really long piece of cloth while humorously commenting on the conflicts she experienced as a Taiwanese-American feminist attempting to learn classical kathak in Calcutta.   The cloth transforms from a braid of long hair, to the walls of her dance guru’s house, to the holy river Yamuna, to a dupatta tied across her chest, twisting and tripping her as she butts up against the overwhelming love and expectations of her guru and tradition.  Faced with the requirement to perform gender – to walk like Radha – in ways that she cannot quite grasp or agree with, she finds herself torn between competing impulses to act as obedient disciple, earnest anthropologist, and stubborn feminist. 

Performed in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister and at Re-tracing Histories, Re-dancing the Past, Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica CA, 2/11/11-2/12/11.

My Silent Cry/The Thorn, the Leaf, and the Butterfly: Based on the story of a domestic violence survivor, The Thorn, The Leaf, and the Butterfly takes a decidedly contemporary look at the tradition of abhinaya (emotional expression in Indian dance).  Gripping, visceral movement images of choking, struggle, and freedom combine with live improvised poetry inspired by the 18th century Indian poet, Ksettraya.

ADD PERFORMANCE HISTORY

Idea for further expansion: Tour with Uma to women’s shelters.

Lost and Found
Inspired by Simone Forti’s method of Logomotion (improvised talking while dancing), in this piece, a woman reclaims her voice.  She revisits the innocent optimism of her childhood and takes us on a journey of loss and rediscovery.

Performed in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister.

Mixed Bag

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Oriental dolls, dominatrix gurus, helpless victims, and mail-order brides duke it out in a satirical world where nothing is sacred and identities/costumes can be changed at the drop of a hat.  Mixed Bag collides contemporary Indian dance with political performance art, as the performers explode sexualized, exotified stereotypes of women.  Their tools?  Black leather, audience lap dances, bad accents, plastic mannikins, classical Indian rhythms, and an extra-large dose of belly laughter. 

Performed in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister and as part of the following lec-dems:

-“Gender, Sexuality, and Performance.” Women’s Studies class. UW-Madison, Madison WI, 4/11. 

-Dance Appreciation Class. U. Georgia, Athens GA, 4/11.

Marks

In a poetic layering of live camera feed, projected text, pre-recorded video, and live bodies, Marks creates a mysterious landscape in which women’s bodies are written upon; where labels are negotiated, toyed with, and evaded.  Developed by Carole Kim and inspired by s k i n.

Performed in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister.

Idea for future expansion: Create a durational performance installation of Marks, perhaps with audience participation.

Adda with the Ancestors

This improvisational duet enacts an “adda” or conversation between two dancers with hybrid histories, the real and imagined ancestors of their dance memories, a guardian, and a curious friend.  Score by Carol McDowell; performance by Cynthia Ling Lee and Shyamala Moorty.

Performed in Trace, Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.

When We’re Alone

This solo incorporates inverted Bharata Natyam, rhythm, and voice to express the emotional crisis of a young South Asian woman struggling to untangle herself from cultural and familial webs.  Created and performed by Shyamala Moorty.

Performed as part of Carrie’s Web and at:

-Trace, Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.

-Moving Beyond Form, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia PA, 2/10.

II. DANCE FOR CAMERA

bitter salt

A hand tracing patterns in the sand, poetic text, and haunting music evoke the story of Rasulanbai, a child widow from the 1960s who resisted abuse by her in-laws by escaping to become a courtesan. Rasulanbai’s story was taken from Oldenberg’s fieldwork on the last remaining courtesan communities of Lucknow, India.  By Cynthia Ling Lee.

Screened as part of Ranri and SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister.
Idea for future expansion: Make into a stand-alone dance video.

Cyber Chat Series

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Created by Anjali, Sandra, Cynthia, and Shyamala in collaboration with Sangita Shresthova, this series of dance-for-camera shorts takes inspiration from Post Natyam’s extensive use of SKYPE to connect administratively, creatively, and as friends across distance.

Cyber Chat 1.1

An artistic version of the Post Natyam Collective’s administrative meetings, which are held via SKYPE conference call - complete with dropped calls, baby cries and kathak rhythms.   

Screened in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister and at: 

-NET Micro-Fest: LA, Atwater Village Theatre, Los Angeles CA, 12/10 

-IGNITE Festival of Contemporary Dance, Little Theatre Group, New Delhi India, 11/11/10

Cyber Chat 1.0:  An earlier version of Cyber Chat 1.1 that was edited as a loop of solos, duets, and a quartet.  video coming... (duet version of Shy and Cyn, solo version of Anj as examples)

Screened at:

-Trace, Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.

-home is where, Natya/STEM, Bangalore India, 12/09

Cyber Chat 2.0

Rhythmic syllables give rise to English as four classical dancers express sisterly sympathy for each other’s shared difficulties via SKYPE.  Screened in SUNOH!  Tell Me, Sister.

Idea for future expansion: Create more Cyber-Chats to add to the series, including a Cyber-Chat PN Manifesto.

s k i n

This dance-for-camera work ponders on the conflicted image of India's dancer-courtesan through the literal and imagined inscription of post-colonial theory on her eroticized and yet vulnerable body.  By Sangita Shresthova and Cynthia Ling Lee.

Screened as a layer of Marks in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister and as a stand-alone work at:

-Re-tracing Histories, Re-dancing the Past, Highways Performance Space, Santa Monica CA, 2/11/11-2/12/11.

-TOO MUCH! Queer Marathon, Dance Mission, San Francisco CA, 1/23/11

-IGNITE Festival of Contemporary Dance, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi India, 11/11/10

Snow and Leather (NAME?)

by Sandra Chatterjee

ADD DESCRIPTION and ideas for future expansion, if any

]wrist[

Anjali Tata’s dance-for-camera short is composed of close-ups on the hands (caressing animal-like choking wrist/neck suddenly wild, clean us off, dirty girl).  It has been screened as a stand-alone piece, been projected on a live dancer in Ranri, and been integrated into performance as a live feed in the Thorn, the Leaf, and the Butterfly:

Screened at:

-Post Natyam Unveiled, Khmer Arts Salon Series, Khmer Arts Academy, Long Beach CA, 5/10.  Lec-dem.

-Moving Beyond Form, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia PA, 2/10. With live tabla accompaniment (password: wrist)

-Trace, Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.  Black and white video installation with poem stenciled in graphite and paint.  

Idea for future expansion: Create a video installation of various recordings of live feeds.

III. ART INSTALLATION

Trace

How do our bodies remember, dismember, and reshape the traces of the past?  Trace grapples with a fragmented South Asian aesthetic legacy through a contemporary lens, combining live performance, interactive installation, video, and poetic documentation.   By Cynthia and Shyamala, with long-distance contributions from Sandra and Anjali and performances by local collaborators.  Includes traces from Post Natyam’s transnational creative project.

Performed at Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.

Idea for future expansion: Create other versions of Trace in different locales, eg by Sandra with Johanna in Munich.

IV. ARTBOOK

Harassing the Sanskrit Heroine
This book interrogates the North Indian light classical song form of thumri, revealing the form's historical layers, erasures, and troubled eroticism by combining poetic text and photographic image.  By Cynthia Ling Lee with photography by Shyamala Moorty.

Exhibited at Trace, Instruments of Risk Series, Sea and Space Explorations Gallery, Los Angeles CA, 11/09.

V. SOCIAL/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Post Natyam's blog, is an online creative workspace for the collective.  It also serves to document our process and invites outside collaborators and the wider public to dialogue about our work-in-process.  The work shown here is raw, the questions about process are being grappled with constantly, and we give each other feedback while inviting the public to do so as well.  
  

VI. SCHOLARSHIP/EDUCATION

ARTICLE
"Blogging Choreography: Collective Long-Distance Choreographic Practice." Unpublished article by Cynthia Ling Lee, Sandra Chatterjee, Shyamala Moorty, and Anjali Tata.  2010.

This paper discusses the unconventional choreographic methodology the Post Natyam Collective has developed to collaborate on South Asian aesthetic forms and concepts across geographical distance.  Our long-distance collaboration uses internet technology to traverse multiple time-zones, disciplines, cultural contexts, geographic locales, and movement forms.  We have created a blog to facilitate this process among the collective members, as well as to enable dialogue about our process, our in-progress work, and the issues underpinning our work in the public sphere. The paper intersperses selected excerpts of thae blog with italicized theoretical commentary, reflection, and contextualization. 

Idea for future expansion: Rewrite the paper and submit to journals.

TALKS/LECTURE-DEMONSTRATIONS

“SUNOH! Tell me, Sister: Feminist Approaches, Collective Choreography and Long Distance Collaboration.”
In collaboration with her colleagues from the Post Natyam Collective, Sandra Chatterjee
has been working on the project Sunoh! Tell Me, Sister. The choreographic project was developed via a long-distance process by choreographers who are geographically dispersed and brings together their different aesthetic approaches as well as their distinct feminist approaches. Starting from the artistic legacy of South Asian courtesans, the contemporary South Asian dance and video project also brings together autobiographical narration and outcomes of activist work with survivors of domestic violence. This paper will reflect the negotiation of those different feminist approaches, historical, autobiographical,
and community activist, as the collective members strive to bring them together in one choreographic project. Ppresented by Sandra at Civilmedia 11: Community Media For Social Change: Low Threshold - High Impact, Salzburg, 14 March 2011.

“Gender, Sexuality, and Performance: The Female Body in South Asian Performance.”

A lec-dem tracing gender and sensuality in SUNOH! Tell Me, Sister, combining lecture on courtesan history with teaching abhinaya (hidden tamarind) and demonstration of Mixed Bag.

Presented by Cynthia and Shyamala at Christine Garlough’s women’s studies class.  UW-Madison, Madison WI, 4/11. 

Idea for future expansion: Create an online scholarly conference on courtesans or other issues relevant to SUNOH!  Tell Me, Sister or PN in general.

“Cliches, the Internet, and Contemporary Indian Dance?” 

A lec-dem giving a general introduction to Post Natyam and SUNOH!  Tell Me, Sister.  Included lecture, screening Cyber Chat 1, teaching BN basics, and performing Mixed Bag.

Presented by Cynthia and Shyamala for dance appreciation classes.  U. Georgia, Athens GA, 4/11.

„Blogging Choreography: Long-Distance Choreographie und das künstlerische Vermächtnis indischer Kurtisanentraditionen.” 

In Zusammenarbeit mit ihren Kolleginnen von der Post Natyam Collective arbeitet Sandra Chatterjee im Moment an einem Projekt mit dem Titel Sunoh! Tell Me, Sister, welches sich im südasiatischen Tanz mit der Hinterlassenschaft einer Kurtisanentradition auseinandersetzt. Das Projekt wird in einem long-distance-Prozess entwickelt, durch welchen sich die Choreografinnen, die sich in verschiedenen Ländern befinden, einbringen können. Sandra Chatterjee führt derzeit in Salzburg ihre Forschungstätigkeit am Projekt weiter und wird in ihrem Vortrag vor allem auf die “long-distance” choreographische Arbeitsweise des Kollektivs eingehen.

 Contemporary Artist Talk by Sandra given at Interuniversitärer Schwerpunkt Wissenschaft und Kunst (Paris-Lodron Universität und Universität Mozarteum), Contemporary arts & cultural production. 15.12.2010; Atelier, Wissenschaft und Kunst.

„Rasa Re-routed: Choreographische Übersetzung und das künstlerische Vermächtnis indischer Kurtisanentraditionen.” Getanzte (Liebes)Lieder aus dem Repertoire der Kurtisanentraditionen sind aktiver Teil der klassischen und populären indischen Tänze. Von Bharatanatyam bis Bollywood zirkulieren sie, in re-interpretierten Versionen, in- und außerhalb des Subkontinents. Der Vortrag, angelehnt an ein konkretes choreographisches Projekt, widmet sich einer kritischen Betrachtung der (re-interpretierten) künstlerischen Vermächtnisse im Kontext eines transnationalen, zeitgenössischen, choreographischen Prozesses.
Given by Sandra as part of the Scientist in Residence program. 25. November 2010; Gendup, Zentrum für Gender Studies und Frauenförderung, Universität Salzburg

"Post Natyam Unveiled"
This lec-dem articulated Post Natyam’s long-distance collaborative process through words and video.  It was bracketed by performance of choreographic works reflective of our individual choreography and smaller scale local collaborations. 

Presented by Cynthia and Shyamala as part of the Khmer Arts Salon Series.  Khmer Arts Academy, Long Beach CA, 5/22/10.

Idea for future expansion: Create a low tech, lec-dem version of SUNOH suitable for academic conferences.

MASTER CLASSES

Contemporary Indian Dance

This workshop combined a yoga-based release warm-up with kathak fundamentals and demo of a phrase from Mixed Bag.

Co-taught by Cynthia and Shyamala for:

-Beginning Modern, U. Illinois, 4/11

-Intermediate/Advanced Modern, U. Illinois, 4/11

-Contemporary Dance III, U. Georgia, 4/11

Idea for future expansion: Document more fully and add to curriculum.