Artists Report: Maya Rao
My encounter was with two groups – the children and the banana–leaf crafting women. Time was very short – I spent a morning observing the women and an afternoon with about 30-35 children. My intention with the children was to give them a sense of Kathakali and then lead them into an improvisation where they could use their hands, body and face in a more improvisatory frame. Also wanted to give them a glimpse of how another culture had interpreted the Ramayana with a different expressive language from their own. And so I gave them a glimpse of Ravana. My observation of the children was they have a strong inner and outer grace, both boys and girls. The also pass on that grace from one to the other with great ease. They work well together. They seem to have a sense of acting even while they are dancing, as is the case with Kathakali. This was very beautifully demonstrated by the young boy who gave us a glimpse of Hanuman. One possibility is to work with a group of 8-10 children on a story/theme around dance-theatre. This could be a mix of the royal ballet and the other children. We would use their own music.
The Women. The ‘fold-upon-fold’ of the banana
leaf craft gave me the
idea that about 2-3 women could be ‘folding in’ their own stories
and simultaneously I as a performer could improvise these stories with expression.
The woman who was also once-upon a time folk singer, could put words to
song. We could have conversations between women of what life used to be
like. Maybe we could bring in 3-4 children as well. Here too the music would
be their own xylophone and drums. Of course, for any of this we would need
an excellent Lao-English interpreter. I could come for 7-10 days in October/November
(more exact dates a little later).