We continued to explore and incorporate Bharatanatyam into the body. It is a really crash course for Jo and Farah, and I think a new way of working for Ruby combining text and the dance. With the end goal as the presentation in 3 days time, the learning curve is really high; everything is being done as efficiently as possible. I hope once the collaborators get more comfortable with the physical language, text and blocking, we can start the explore more. But I think this process is the best way to go…you can’t explore something without first learning it and this level of focus is necessary. It’s something for all of us to push against. Once we learn the blocking, text and choreo, we will push against something else.
Rehearsals started with an hour with Bharatanatyam led by Ruby. We began with the basic: walks. Today we also explored poses. There are many.
We did more text work today, since Jo has returned. I am interested in the idea of 3 actors playing Medea, interweaving between the Chorus and Medea. The meta meaning to this, I hope, is using the story of Medea as an allegory to the emotional and spiritual path some take actors while trying to make a career in Singapore. That aside, the use of 3 actors enables us to bring forth and highlight the complexity of Medea. She is the ultimate Betrayed – she has scarificed everything and experienced a lot of betrayal (Medea’s experience could be a dictionary or reference of all possible ways to be betrayed). Her torment maybe personal at times, but her journey is epic. So far, I think the use of 3 actors work. In the artist talk, I would like to know what this means or signals to the audience.
Today was also the first time we looked at the Choral Ode. I hope to use a couple of layers to create the spectacle required:
Layer 1: The music layer
Layer 2: A Bharatanatyam Dance
Layer 3: The text spoken
Layer 4: Accents/ instruments played by the actors speaking the text.
It was not ideal, but I needed something to work with in today’s rehearsal and left too little time to give Ben. The actors needed something to root their sound explorations in. Also, Ruby needed a constant beat and something confirmed to choreograph around, so I thought it best to use a “found sound” or pre-made sound at this juncture. It is not ideal but I hope Ben will give permission to use of this found sound. Such is the respect of collaboration I hope to honor even as things get crazy.
I need to create more space for dialogue and processing after each session.
AND COSTUMES!! ARGH. I need a costume designer stat!
Tan Shou Chen 