| Joint workshop with dancers and musicians from Beeja Dance Company and actors and musicians from Wonderful Beast exploring Indian and Western techniques of telling stories through dance, music and drama.
We worked with pulse, vocalised rhythms, and the Indian equivalent of the western solfa system. We looked at the story of Manu from the Dasha Avataram and how Vishnu, in the form of a fish, saved him from the flood. The story of Noah, another version of a flood story, was also explored as performers improvised together using their different range of techniques.
Prathap demonstrated the four basic notes drawn from his ancient drum, the mrdungham, from which he can build up an alphabet of story elements. Anusha told us that the language of gesture used in baratanatyam dance is only an extension of what is a normal mode of communication in her culture. For the people of South India it is natural to use hand gestures.
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