UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE an Exploratory Study Suggesting the Various Uses of Intermedia Technology to Support Indian
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE An exploratory study suggesting the various uses of intermedia technology to support Indian classical dance in invoking Rasa THESIS submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS in Dance by Sukanya Kumar Thesis Committee: Associate Professor Chad Michael Hall, Co-Chair Professor John Crawford, Co-Chair Professor Mary Corey 2018 © 2018 Sukanya Kumar DEDICATION To my Gurus for their guidance, my family for their support, my teachers for their encouragement, to designers who help us tell our stories and to all explorers of Indian classical dance for keeping the tradition alive. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS v INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 8 CHAPTER 2: OBSERVATIONS: UNDERSTANDING RASA AND TECHNOLOGY 22 CHAPTER 3: CASE STUDIES 31 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS 43 CONCLUSIONS 50 REFERENCES 53 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my committee Professor John Crawford, Professor Chad Michael Hall, and Prof. Mary Corey. Prof John Crawford’s knowledge, and inquisitive nature has been a constant inspiration. His shared excitement and involvement with this research and thesis encouraged me to take risks and enjoy the process of exploration. Without his guidance and persistent help, this study would not have been possible. Professor Chad Michael Hall’s persistence and his work with technology serves as a stimulus to my own work. His sincerity in understanding the Indian cultural aspects and his support to help me consolidate my ideas was of extreme importance in completing this project. Professor Mary Corey’s enthusiasm in history and notation led to many conversations that were eye-opening. Her interest in discussing cultural practices has encouraged me to explore an area close to my identity. I would like to express my gratitude to Guru Smt. Priyadarsini Govind, Guru Late Smt Kalanidhi Narayanan, Guru Late Shri T K Mahalingam Pillai, Guru K Kalyanasundaram, Guru M Vishwanath, Guru Kumudini Lakhia, Guru Rajendrakumar Gangani who have been constant inspirations and role models. Their art, presence, knowledge, and guidance are the reason I am a what I am today. They have taught me that dance is based on mastering and then transcending technique, and that we remain students forever. My salutations to other artists and veterans of the Indian classical dance genre who believe that modern technology should be a quest for our times, helping us achieve the ultimate goal of performing, evoking Rasa. I thank my team for my thesis production: Technical Director - Bruce Warner, Lighting and Projection Design - Morgan Embry, Stage Management - Kelly Musgrove, Poetry - Janani Venkateswaran, Vasanthi S Pillai, Pavana Reddy, Sound supervision - Kate Fechtig, Lighting Assistance - Janani Venkateswaran, Projection Assistance - Sonya Wong, House Management - Robyn O’Dell, Costume tailor - Krishnamoorthy, Costume coordination - Bhanu Kumar, Videography - Simon Sorin, Brandi Kelly, Photography - Skye Schmidt, Gunindu Abeysekera, Yubo Dong, and Premkumar S. I would also like to thank the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts - Department of Dance and the Institute of 21st Century Creativity (21C) for their support. iv ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS An exploratory study suggesting the various uses of intermedia technology to support Indian classical dance in invoking Rasa By Sukanya Kumar Master of Fine Arts in Dance University of California, Irvine, 2018 Associate Professor Chad Michael Hall, Co-Chair Professor John Crawford, Co-Chair Many western artists have used intermedia performance technology like lighting, projections, digital music, costumes and set design in performances to effectively enhance understanding, create context, elevate experience, and trigger emotions. The ultimate goal of Indian classical dance is to evoke Rasa. Rasa is comparable to many emotional and psychological responses like ‘transcendence’ mentioned by western artists. This thesis suggests that instead of resisting technology, Indian classical practitioners should embrace its value and use it to support its endeavor of producing Rasa. As a demonstration of my suggestion, I choreographed and performed a solo evening-length production titled War by any other name… that utilized lighting, projections of artwork and video, customized space, set design, synthesized music, and dialogue to support and enhance the understanding and contextualizing of v traditional Indian classical dance movement vocabulary. The theme was centered around war through the ages, from ancient Indian warfare, its pride, the results of the World Wars, to current day terrorism and gun violence. It ends with hope and the power of peace. The production was presented for three evenings at UCI’s xMPL theatre. The aim of this thesis, the paper and the production, is to encourage dialogue in the field of Indian classical dance with respect to the use of technology and how it can be effectively used to strengthen the process of evoking Rasa. vi INTRODUCTION There is limited use of intermedia1 technology like lighting, projections, and digitally synthesized music in the field of Indian classical dance today. Although there are increasing collaborations with technical designers, most traditional Indian classical dancers express a resistance to it. Their argument is that the movement vocabulary of Indian classical dance is self-sufficient, and that technology is redundant and takes away from the experience of the ancient art form. On the contrary western dancers, choreographers, and writers have utilized and authored on the topic of using digital technology. They share their views on how technology can generate audio visual effects that evoke certain transcendental feelings as emotional responses among audiences in a performance. Indian classical dance is derived from treatises like Natyashastra and Abhinayadarpana2 that serve as a doctrine of movements, dictionaries of “what is permitted” in the art form. These texts are more than twenty-six centuries old and are still relevant to today’s practice. The ultimate goal of an Indian classical presentation is to evoke Rasa, a complex state of mind resulting from being immersed and impacted by a performance. Discussions of the various definitions of the term Rasa indicate that it closely relates to the type of responses that the western artists using technology have mentioned. Experience of Rasa is universal. Different cultures may refer to it 1 Intermedia is a term used to describe working with multiple media platforms simultaneously. It can be used interchangeably with multimedia. 2 Natyashstra and Abhinayadarpana are popular Sanskrit texts on performing arts dating back to 2nd century BCE. The Natyashastra is attributed to sage Bharata Muni while Abhinayadarpana is authored by Nandikeshvara. 1 differently. Thus, I wanted to see if the goal of Indian classical dance can be supported by the use of performative technology. We will see supporting evidence in the following chapters that performance technology can help contextualize periodic and culture specific themes for a culturally removed, untrained audience. Hence, the use of technology may be able to help an audience, that is removed culturally and in time, to decipher and decode the specific and detailed vocabulary of Indian classical dance. This would help refresh the art form and make it globally relevant and relatable. My research suggests that Indian classical dancers should embrace the use of performance technology to support their choreographic process, collaboratively working towards the goal of invoking Rasa. I attempt to demonstrate the practical application of my suggestions in a production titled War by any other name… . Technology has increasingly impacted our world. We have seen digital revolutions in most arenas of life: our paperbacks are pixelated; we download songs; stream videos. But until a couple of decades ago, dance across the globe remained an analog anomaly – a field which did not embrace the technological advances. In the early age of dance and technology (1890s-2000s), pioneering works of artists like Loie Fuller3 and later Alwin Nikolais4, with their experiments in lighting, 3 "Loie Fuller | American Dancer," Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified 2017, accessed April 30, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Loie-Fuller. 4 "Alwin Nikolais | American Dancer and Choreographer," Encyclopedia Britannica, last modified 2018, accessed April 30, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alwin-Nikolais. 2 stagecraft, sound, and costume, are inspirations to use technology in western genres of dance. We have come a long way since then. There are an increasing number of universities and schools offering courses, funding, and support for studying the field of dance and technology, along with an increase in public interest for experimental theatre and dance performance. Many young Indian classical dance practitioners have recently presented works that embrace technological aspects like digital projections, theatrical lighting, online videos, and synthesized music. This is indicated by recent initiatives like Art to Smart,5 Navatman,6 Indian Raaga,7 applications like Natyarambha,8 and conferences like Natya Darshan9 focusing on integrating technology and Indian classical dance. For the purposes of this study, I will delimit the term ‘technology’ as referring to processes that are predominantly performative and transmedia10