Today I discussed with my filmmaker collaborator different ideas for video clips. One would think only 4 days before opening night everything would be done; but the video is the last aspect of the show to come together. I am asking myself: how much do I rely on the video to tell the same story as the choreography and where is it telling a different story?
I’m working on how to thematically tie everything together in my piece, now focusing on the video. The driving story for the piece is my friend and collaborator Boynarr’s detention at Guantanamo Bay. The performance explores as well the circumstances that allowed something so horrific to happen to him including power struggle and war. There is no clear “good” vs. “evil” in the piece. The dancers change rolls, they are not the same person all the way through. The challenge with choosing video clips for me is not to have it be so broad and grow so unwieldy that it just ends up being about everything.
One major way I am considering tying in the paintings of my collaborator Daisy Rockwell is through the video. Daisy has painted 2 series of the 9 rasas: rasa means “essence” or “juice” in Sanskrit and there are 9 rasas in Indian classical dramatic philosophy. The inspiration for the theme was the so-called “war on terror” and how a war could be waged against an emotion. One of the 9 rasas is “Bhayanak” or terrifying. From there Daisy painted a friend, Manon, acting out the 9 rasas according to his own interpretation, and another friend, Ahalya, who demonstrated the rasas through bharata natyam, an Indian and Sri Lankan classical dance form.
Brett, the filmmaker, suggested including video of Daisy’s friend, Manon, acting the 9 rasas into the film that will be projected on the wall behind the dancers. We’ve been discussing how we incorporate this theme of the 9 rasas into what I have created choreographically and into the framework of Boynarr’s story. One of my guiding impulses for the choreography has been to tap into and express different emotions associated to what I imagine to be part of Boynarr’s story, my reactions to it, as well as to other experiences I’ve had involving the Department of Homeland Security. I’ve realized through talking with Daisy about her work that in the choreography we explore all the rasas, without calling them as such. I believe things are coming full circle and I’m so thankful to be working with the people involved in this project!
painting by Daisy Rockwell, view at www.daisyrockwell.com
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