“Medea’s Song”, a laboratory performance project

 “Medea’s Song”, a laboratory performance project be held in Bangalore under the leadership of Anna Olkinuora and Arka Mukhopadhyay,  between May 10th and June 7th, 2015.

With a professional cast of collaborators, we would like to explore the relationship between energy, breath, rhythm, song, movement, text and the performer’s organic presence. The work will be based on Sahrudaya, an approach to performance creation developed by The Arshinagar Project, where the performer is open, receptive, responsive, in deep inner silence and ‘of one heart’ with him/herself, the others and with space; and in turn will lead to further evolution of that approach. Of particular interest to us in this laboratory are ritualistic or repetitive actions, and the effect of rhythm on the performer’s body-mind, the connection between musicality and text; and the interplay and conflict between the individual performer and the ensemble

The work will primarily happen in English and Kannada, as well as in other languages

More about Sahrudaya:

Sahrudaya refers to a performer who is in a state of grace, resonant with her/ his interior awareness, with the co-creators and with the space. The basis of the work is the simple, everyday act of breathing, but looked at as a bridge between the inner and the outer world, and the foundation of the rhythmic, awakened body, a body alive to its own creative potential. The work draws upon elements from Kalaripayattu and other forms, but ultimately focuses on the human body, the organic being, as the source of creation. It challenges the body and the imagination, improving our focus, attention, precision and presence, opening up a rich, dynamic language of the body and voice, full of a deep, inner life.

There’ll be four to seven hours of work per day over three weeks.
The daily work will include:

Exercises of the eye and face
Body conditioning and tuning drawn from Yoga and Kalaripayattu
Working on the unity of breath, gaze, movement and gesture
Awakening the rhythmic body through movement in space
Working on improvisations both through spontaneity and structure
Opening up the organic voice by delving deep into the body and the sub-conscious roots of imagination
Finding intention, precision and flow through movement and song – finding connections with oneself, the partners and the space.
Working with text through breath, rhythm and images
Creating solo, duet and ensemble performance structures – towards a poetry of space

Exploring Medea:

Through this process, we enter the wild and raw passions, the sensuality and cruelty, the primary colours, the horror and the tragedy of Medea, one of the strangest and most magnificent tales ever told. We’ll explore it’s themes of power, oppression and vengeance, of what it means to be an ‘outsider’, lust, eros and death. We’ll create solo, duo and group work in response to the text which will come together in a highly physical, rhythmic and musical performance structure, to be presented in the natural settings of the historical RBANMS High School grounds, and possibly in another indoor venue, over five to six public shows in early June.

All revenue generated from the shows will be shared equally between all collaborators.

The project starts from the 10th of May and finishes on the 7th of June in this phase. The project will undergo further modification and evolution later in 2015 and 2016.