Rang Katha: An Experimental Dance-Art Presentation
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| Poster of the event (Rang Katha) designed by Gunjan :) |
Concept and Dance by – Gunjan Joshi and Neha Tickoo
Poetry – Neha Tickoo
Music Credits – MATTI MATTI, Johannes Moller ( Artists found on
YouTube)
Sound/Music edits – Gunjan Joshi
Video Credits – Abhishek kukreja, Nahusha K, Gunjan Joshi
Video Edit – Gunjan Joshi
Rang katha in
essence is a dance piece imagined on a cloth or canvas using the bodies
to paint the surface. This piece was presented as part of our projects for our respective M.A specializations at AUD. The movements over the canvas become the strokes and the
dancers themselves become the brushes. The tools used to paint or create art
are thus the dancer’s body and the paint. Through this student presentation called rang katha we want to talk
about the stereotypes of the body and beauty. “Beauty lies in the eye of the
beholder”, truly said, this axiom becomes the central thematic.
The notion of
perfection and pure beauty, stereotypes present in the society about the fair
skin, perfect height, and the pressure on people to look like the ideal man or
woman and to feel beautiful are being discussed through the performance using
the visuals on the canvas, as well as the poetry supporting the performance. Also
the ideal mode of painting on canvas is being challenged by making the use
of the body to create the artwork by its rhythmic movements. To imagine the
beauty in terms of the 'pre-worked' canvas with stereotypes created on it or the
end product of us, the brushes removing them or trying to brush it off is
another question we pose to the audience. Apart from trying to create a rupture
within these moulds of typical art making process or the typical body and
beauty, the dancers try to bring out the pure and codified classical Indian
dance forms of odissi and kathak out in the open to be viewed in public on the
streets and somewhere even breaking their codes during the performance. The idea here is not to disrespect the classical dance styles, but to
imagine and re-imagine the spaces and their relation to these dance forms.
The
imagination is to think out of the proscenium and to merge the dance with other
movements to create something very different yet beautiful,
using different spaces and different modes of the viewing. Here, we had the audience
surround us from all four corners of the limited area of the canvas, which
makes the viewing even more interesting as what a person from on angle would
see, the other would see the same body but from a different perspective and a
different angle. So the dance movements we present to the audience also do not
remain the same for everyone as different angles are being constantly created
for viewing by each member of the audience. This presentation essentially
questions the “perfection” and tries to understand if anything remains or is
perfect, whether we speak of the perfect body, perfect style of dance, perfect mode of painting, perfect
space for a specific dance style and the aspect of perfect beauty.
The process to work began with us deciding on one concern
and concept that relates well to both of us, further we began meeting and
discussing about it, to think of visuals and the way it can be presented. Once
the concept was in place, thinking about the dance styles and bringing in our
respective years of training in Kathak or Odissi onto a new and unimagined
space was planned. The idea to have minimal or no expressions was decided too as expressions play a very important role in Indian classical dances. The materials to work with except the body and its movements
were practically discussed too. Personally, I prefer to not use canvas and
always look for cost cutting and assessable materials to work with, but for the
performance and the practicality of dancing, a thick cloth which wouldn’t make the dancers slip , a canvas was finalized. The
music was edited on a software called audacity to infuse the ‘bol’ of the two
classical dance forms, the poetry and a pleasing music track of an artist
called Matti Matti was created. The reason behind choosing the artist was also
thought of, as their music is a mix of sitar and an instrument called hang
drum, again an unconventional combination, not a ‘perfect’ mix. Also this style
would not only suit the classical dance styles but can support the movements of
western dance forms like salsa, contemporary too, which were used by the
performers to create an unusual mix of dance forms for the presentation.
Before the performance presentation began, the audience was
asked to use markers, sketch pens, pens, etc to write their thoughts, draw,
doodle, about what they felt were the common stereotypes of beauty and body
onto the canvas and this process was recorded for an archive. The idea to make
the audience write or interact with the canvas was to try bringing them closer
and more connected to the performance, trying to create a curiosity and anxiety
among them to see what would happen with their drawings or how it would effect the performance.
Later, once the performance began, in spite of a few
choreographed bits which were pre imagined and roughly rehearsed, the
performing bodies too were left open to the field of improvisation, contact
improvisation to see how one body itself reacts to the other and also around an
audience and in a restricted space, to see what dance style or movements erupts
from within the performer by merely reacting to the music and poetry as well as
reacting to the canvas and paints. It becomes an exploration for the performer
to feel the music, the vibes of the audience, the paints, the canvas and
moreover connect with the thematic or the concern that was being brought out
and discussed through the act. Through the action painting the action itself
becomes of importance rather than just the painting. What is also
interesting to note, is how after the “painting” and at the end of the
performance, the canvas still does not get fully covered with paint, leaving
portions of the text or doodles etc to peep through, which could also suggest
that however broad minded and open the society becomes, certain notions which
stick to the mindset of people are very difficult to erase and change or destroy, which forms the
reality of how the society functions.
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| Rang Katha Displayed in the Final semester Exhibition, AUD |
This piece was the first time we (Neha and I) collaborated and conceptualized a common concern into an action painting or a Dance-Art sequence. Inspite of being inspired by various artists who have used the medium of dance/movements and paints on a canvas, this project conceptually had a lot of experimentation and tweaking and adaptations of codified beliefs and systems.
Below is a YouTube Link to the experimentation. Hope we tried to bring out the concept in the performance.
Enjoy,
would love some feedback,criticism,appreciation...anything. :)
Share and support my creative endeavours.
love,
Gunjan :)
