Seraglio Course Outline

[bethlakshmi]

I figure, I might as well write it up here, I can easily paste it into Word later... and anyone who wants can read it.  Keep in mind, folks who actually study Indian dance/music something, that this is a 1 hour course for people who may or may not have anything to do with any parts of the Indian performing arts before.  And yet, we are not doing "Day 1: Bharata Natyam",  we are looking at some tasty tidbits that might supplement whatever else we are doing in life.

I feel pretty, oh so pretty

Or at least that was the title I sent... they seem to have gone a little haywire on the event site - http://www.eastkingdom.org/event-detail.html?eid=1129

I. General Thoughts on Abhinaya (under 10 minutes)

1. Abhinaya vs. Nritta
2. Abhinaya in historic texts
3. General principles:

• Hand movements are very important
• A stiff hand connotes tension - anger, pride, aggression, emphasis
• A loose hand connotes relaxation - familiarity, congeniality, comfort
• Adapt movement as needed to give meaning - be intentional, work within the framework of the basic mudras, altering movement consciously.
• Face and eyes are used to give shades of meaning.
• Practice head slides until you can do them with comfort
• Practice in mirror
• Leg movement is often less precise - vary movement while keeping it symmetrical, combine slow and fast steps, keep back straight and balance centered.

II. Sringara - What is it?

1. Rasa is that which the audience experiences from seeing the work of art
2. Navarasas (9 rasas) - Shringar (erotic), Hasya (humor), Karuna (pathetic/pathos), Raudra (terrible), Veera (heroic), Bhayanaka (fearful), Bibhatsa (odious), Adbhuta (wonderous)
3. Rasa vs. Bhava
4. Some examples

• Poetry - selection from Purandara Dasa
• Art - copy of painting from Ragamala

III. Movements

1. Beautiful Woman

• hair - long, thick, braided, adorned
• jewelry - necklace, bracelets, rings, anklebells, earrings
• saris
• teeth & lips
• overall - slow walking, beautiful of face, just "beautiful"

2. Interaction a Man

• visualing the man, 'speaking' to the man
• pining for the man
• loving the man
• being spurned by the man
• thinking about the man

3. Telling a story, putting it in context

• who are you telling the story to?  the man?  a friend?  how does this change your physicality?
• what is the surrounding framework?  is this part of a larger tale? 
• does other activity come into contact - you don't just love someone, you do things with them... what things?

This is mostly an outline.  I need to go in and flesh out the examples of sringara.  And I'd really like to pull out my notes on subtypes of sringara.  Hopefully we'll spend the majority of class time on section 3 - that's the part where we really get to play.  The bullets aren't really so much 1 bullet per move, but general things to think about.