India

After five weeks in Mysuru, India, in the Karnataka region, I was able to build a practice with my teacher/guru, Kripa Phadke, and learn basic steps (adavu), hand gestures (mudras), and eye coordinations from Bharata Natyam. From this regular daily practice, I was able to learn and perform the performance in the video seen above. This was performed at the Swami Vivekenanda Youth Movement on Wednesday July 25th 2018. The addition of live musicians was incorporated only two days before the performance. The performance begins with a greeting/thanking/prayer (namaskar) to the musicians, stage, god, guru, and audience before beginning to express the physical execution of Bharata Natyam vocabulary.

Through my own experience as well as observing other performances or 'ceremonies', I am intrigued by the coexisting qualities of extreme formalism and casual behavior within these settings. This was one of the most striking differences between performance in Western culture and Indian culture. As you can see in this video, the moment in which I become confused, due to a costume failure, one of the administrators simply walks out onto stage to clear the floor of headdress pieces. In the West, the mentality- 'the show must go on!' would be at play and no audience member would dare interrupt the performance. This is combined with audience members allowing their cellphones to ring in concerts, walking in and out, and using cellphones to videotape the work. This behavior is in stark contrast to how the evenings begin. An extended introduction by the host, followed by the offering of flowers or gifts to each performer (required to come forward and accept these gifts), and much applause and anticipation are 'performed' in an extremely formal manner. I am interested in these contrasting qualities in research, since I believe the performer in concert dance should balance both the performative quality while not feeling 'under the pressure' of the audience and have a coolness which allows them to perform their best work. Since stress can affect the use of the body, balancing these energies allows for awareness, adaptation, and full use of a dancer's skills, which have all been prepared in the studio setting. I also prefer to use studio time at a level and intensity that mirrors stage life. Therefore, I find this cultural behavior intriguing in perfomative contexts.

This practice and performance was both intense and inspiring, comprising of complex musical rhythms, quickly changing variations of hand gestures in coordination with lower body movements, and interesting structure regarding right and left sides of the body. Due to the balance of my skill level and the challenges put before me, I was able to find flow, the psychological concept of optimal experience defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. This occurred both in practice and in performance, similar to what I try to achieve in my own practice. Currently, I am incorporating this complexity into my own work with dancers at the University of Michigan, as I build my thesis regarding fascia, flow, and new pedagogical approaches to dance.

Below are a collection of photos regarding my cultural experiences in India.