we used to see this

Artistic Statement: 

I have been grappling with bharata natyam in seemingly contradictory ways since the age of four. Sometimes I was fixated because my parents forced me to learn the art form at an early age; sometimes my preoccupation stemmed from my dis/connection to the mythological stories we would interpret; sometimes I was obsessed because I felt conflicted over some of the characters we would play; sometimes I felt passionate about bharata natyam because the structure of the form grounded me in its shapes and rhythms and expressions; sometimes I became upset over the fact that whenever I performed, I had to put on layers of face make-up ten shades lighter than my own darker brown skin; sometimes I would muse at length on why I preferred to listen to hip hop rather than classical Indian music; sometimes I would get upset by comments that non-Indian audience members would say to me after a performance like, “Oh, you look like those ancient Indian temple statues!” when I really didn’t feel like one. I continue to grapple with dominant caste bharata natyam because this dance form has been violently stolen from hereditary dance communities; sometimes it is because I read my family’s dominant and OBC caste name in South Asian dance history books and am haunted over how my ancestors might have played a role in the conservative casteist nationalist movements of India. My relationship to bharata natyam has always been complex. we used to see this strives to reflect this complexity.

Description:

Join Meena as she journeys through fragments of bharata natyam, revisiting historical archives, rituals, sounds, and spaces, through a contemporary lens. From multiple audience perspectives, we used to see this creates at once the intimacy of a salon within a theatre space.

Solo or duet. 30-minutes.

Credits: 

Choreographer: Meena Murugesan 

Research process in collaboration with PostNatyam Collective (Cynthia Ling Lee, Shyamala Moorty, Sandra Chatterjea)

Performers: Shyamala Moorty, Meena Murugesan

Composer: d. Sabela grimes

Set Designer: Rafa Esparza

Lighting Designer: Pablo Santiago

Advising Committee: Lionel Popkin, Janet O’Shea, David Roussève

Excerpt: