11/27/08

Our final performance went a lot better than I thought it was going to. Getting ready Monday afternoon, I felt like our banjar was so confused and disorganized. Although our group had done a really great job at the International Dance Showcase, I had no idea how we were going to incorporate the entire group into our one petty scene. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that the other group couldn't get their scene together ontime, but we all have each other's backs. I think if only the semester was a couple weeks longer we would have been able to put the final polishing steps on our final performance. The students at Berkley Middle School seemed to get really into our performance. Many of the boys were chanting along with us, and seemed generally interested in the storyline of our scene. My favorite part of the day was having a chant off between the different sections of students. My group had the Chuke, Chuke Chuke Chuke Sec Chuke, and our kids were by far the loudest and most enthusiastic. My personal performance was pretty decent as well. Although I messed up a couple of the Taka Timi's, I felt like the group rhythmn was a lot better than it was at the first group performance. I can't wait to write my final paper. :)

11/12/08

I can't believe we're having our last class before our big performance at the Kimball. Tomorrow we'll be perfecting our scene, practicing our chants, and gaining a last confidence boost from the members of our banjar. I'm feeling a bit under-prepared, but I have to trust the other members of the banjar to grasp all that we have learned in the past several weeks and concentrate our energy on a successful performance. I watched the video from YouTube that Kalyani sent to us, and I now have a greater appreciation for the talent of the Bharatanatyum dancers. Their ability to keep beat, while still portraying a story with their bodies is incredible. I can't wait to see more of their performances during the International Dance showcase.

11/03/08

I haven’t really written in awhile. It’s not from lack of material to write about, sadly, it’s because I’ve been super busy doing Sharpe and Sorority things. We’ve had a big development since I’ve last written. Our banjar is scheduled to perform at the Kimball at the international dance show next Friday. That’s coming up really soon. At first I was really hesitant to do it because I don’t like dancing in front of a large group of people, especially at a performance where people have to pay, but the banjar and Francis have reassured me that all is well and that there is nothing to be ashamed. We’ve also set up our final performance at Berkley Middle School, which should be really cool. I feel like the middle schoolers will be really receptive to learning the dance moves, and maybe one day one of them will be inspired to take ICAPS at William and Mary. We’ve started developing our scene for our performance last week. It was really difficult to get the blocking and the chanting down (particularly the transitions), but today we got most of that taken care of. Here’s a breakdown of the scene: Ravana asks his uncle to turn into a golden deer to lure Sita into his clutches. Sita chases the deer, and eventually sends Rama out to find it. Rama chases the deer and kills it, and it makes a scream and Sita hears it. She’s worried about Rama so she sends Lakshamana out to look for Rama. Lakshamana draws a protective circle around Sita and goes to look for Rama. In the meantime, Ravana comes to Sita dressed as a beggar and lures her out of the circle. He scoops her up and takes her away to Lanka. My role consists of being a tree for the deer to run around, making the sounds in the circle, and being one of the beggars that tries to lure Sita out of her protective circle.