Kimball Performance!

We had our GRAND performance at the Kimball this past Friday, and I would call it overall a success! I really didn't know what to expect from the gig as a whole - what other kinds of groups would be there and how prepared they would be...But I actually felt like our banjar performance fit well into the mix of performances and brought some different flavor to the entirety of performances. Although we practiced it a bunch of times on Wednesday, as our group was about to go on and perform I felt so unprepared...where exactly was I walking? How should I walk? Walk normally or dance to my spot? When should I enter? What should my hands be doing? Last second we decided to enter with our arms up and ready in ala padma (I think that is the one we did...), and I think this was a great idea because it made the entrance seem more professional, more put together.

Most of our performance went well, and I think it was overall pretty solid. I had some friends come to the show, and they were extremely complimentary and thought our performance really stuck out from all the others. I kept asking them, "No, honestly, really, what did you think?" etc...and they kept telling me that truthfully they were impressed and thought it went really well. I felt that overall we rushed it as a whole, our beat was pretty fast and people cut short their little scenes, but this is definitely to be expected - I think this always tends to happen when you get in front of an audience and your nerves take over. Everything also felt really different because we were in our costumes and makeup. Movements were more restricted in the tight skirts, and I had wings in addition, which were something that I had never had before and just wasn't used to. Some of the chaks got out of control - I think that each side couldn't hear the opposite side of the circle as well as we had in the room, so it was harder to coordinate and make the two sides work together. Also, with Francis on the microphone it added a whole other level to the chak circle that I think threw some of us off as well. Although we got through the motions of the dance as a whole, I think that in practicing we were actually more cohesive as a group.

I enjoyed watching the other performers as well. Kalyani was sooo amazing in her bangrah dance group and it really made me want to join something like that! The fact that they had just figured out the dance that same week really showed me how good they are - as compared to our group that was working on our dance for such a longer time and really weren't as prepared or had as complex of moves...and then the bangrah team that was able to put that together in such a short amount of time. It was great...the Irish dancers were impressive as well - they all had that stiff unfeeling facial expression on for the entire dance. The stage presence of most of the groups was truly inspiring - everyone took their performances very seriously and gave it their best.

This week we've been focusing on our performance for the Kimball Theater next week. I'm really not sure how it's going to turn out...I am playing the part of Ravana, which is pretty exciting, and yet intimidating as well. Kalyani is doing a great time with giving us some guidance as to what we should be doing as to movements in general, but also keeping things very open to suggestions and letting us play around with what we want to do with our own parts. I feel pretty good about my opening movements and walking around, I am just struggling a lot with the part where I have a conversation with the uncle. I just feel so awkward trying to say "chhuck sic chuck chuk" or wahtever on beat with the banjar circle around me, while simultaneously stomping and trying to look menacing, while simultaneously using only hand movements to try to tell the story that I am angry and want him to turn into a deer for me so that I can capture Sita. I mean, seriously...how can I portray all of that within mere moments and no spoken words? I am working on just being confident in whatever movements I choose to do, because I know that half of what makes a performance good, actually, what makes an okay performance Great, is confident deliverance from the characters. If the actors and dancers themselves become involved and confident in what they are doing, the audience reads this and feeds off of it, even if the person really has no idea what they are doing.

Our banjar has truly come such a long way! Everyone is stepping up and making suggestions for sounds, movements, actions, blocking, facial expressions...etc. We are finally gelling as a group and I think it really shows. We are able to encourage one another while still giving constructive criticism to help the group as a whole. Taking glances over at the other banjar working on their piece shows a similar scene. And everyone seems to be having fun too! I also feel like every time we do (wow I am completely blanking on what it is called right now...the opening and closing ritual where we ask forgiveness of the earth for stamping on it???) - it has more and more meaning for me. I love it, I just love that it brings us all into a mindset at the beginning and gives closure to class at the end. And I love the meaning of it, and think that it should permeate other parts of our days - thinking about the earth before we do anything to it, or not even just the earth but to other people or animals or moments. It's something I think about now before all my actions - who or what all is this going to affect?

This week we began working on our scene for the Kimball performance. It is pretty overwhelming since the scene is so open and we pretty much have free reign to do whatever we want. Without a single person leading the group (although Kalyani is doing a great job stepping up for us when we really need help and explaining basic moves that we can then play around with and add to), everyone seems pretty shy and unsure about stepping up for the main roles and directing people on what to do. I think this makes sense at this point in our rehearsing, since we aren't used to just watching a given leader and repeating the dance steps to the best of our ability. Now, we are the ones who have to come up with the moves that are correct for the scene and create a congruent artistic scene.



A lot of the class on Wednesday we worked to figure out different rhythms and ways of making the background sounds and music to different scenes. While spending a lot of the class sitting in a circle, experimenting with different combinations and ways to make our 'chuck's work together fluidly in an interesting pattern, our banjar really stepped up and worked together as a community. Everyone was participating and putting their own ideas in to the group to help us work out a way to make the music work. People stepped up and offered different ways to try singing the chucks in order to make it work. It was hard figuring out how to make two different groups, the two mini banjars, have separate rhythms that worked and sounded right together, while making both of them unique, and yet also getting in the correct number of beats and the gong that are necessary for the sound to be from Bali. I definitely enjoyed today;s class!