Movement # 2 JEWEL BOX Songs of LONGING [Presence (antithesis) The Mother INDIA]
An Interactive Script
Locations: The interior of an Australian Indian house (Marrickville, Sydney) & home temple, a marble & glass city department store, Sydney, & Hindu Temples, (Orissa), India.
The creole girl (Indian/French/African) protagonist - Rochele....from Mauritius...opens the Indian box.... a series of dance jewels are displayed on the surface of the screen. Interaction with these dance jewels triggers screens that poetically explore aspects of the Indian dance culture.
Pathway icon: montage of antique Indian Jewel Box, containing Indian dance jewels (Sanskrit, Indian) and roses.
Visual trigger: Rochele's hands open the Indian Jewel Box to discover classical Indian dance jewels.
Sound: (Audio material) As the jewel box opens a refrain from a sitar. Kuchipudi dance item (Padma Raman performs Krishna Shabdam); Oddisi dance item (Ileana Citaristi performs Mangala Charan) & (Nirmal Jena performs Shiva, Chitrita Mukerjee performs Konarak Kanthi).
...opening...
Storyline: This story is revealed through the discovery of a jewel box containing classical Indian dance jewels. Nina (the Russian/Greek girl) transforms into Rochele (the creole girl) & is attracted to the Eastern patterns. She becomes familiar with the bangles, ear rings, bracelets, dance bells, & small sculpture of Shiva depicting the dance gestures .
...discovery...
Interactivity with virtual objects virtually opens into two classical Indian dance performances & triggers the release of (i) Krishna Shabdam performance by Padma Raman, Leichhardt Town Hall, Sydney, 1992; (ii) Mangala Charan performance by Italian Indian dancer Ileana Citaristi, Tom Mann Theatre, Sydney, July 2003. www.kalinga.net/ileana
This includes Shiva Tandav performance by Nirmal Jena, Bangarra Dance Studios, Carnivale, Sydney, 2002; & Konarak Kanti performance by Chitritta Mukerjee (The Performance Space 1993) of the Odissi Dance Company - cellist John Napier).
The dance items unfold within a virtual stage screen environment, releasing written texts on the respective dance genres of (i) Odissi and (ii) Kuchipudi, interviews with the proponents (i) a professional dance guru who has migrated to Australia, & his protege wife; and (ii) an Indian Australian who has taken up the dance and performs at ritual events for the arts/Indian community.
