Studies in India
Thanks to a graduate fellowship from my alma mater I have been able to take my theatre studies further afield, deepening my understanding across cultures. Having discovered physical theater to be my particular passion, my hope was to see other styles which are based on movement rather than text. I decided I wanted to really reach beyond what I already knew, diving into techniques and backgrounds that would seem utterly different but perhaps help me to find an essence shared by all. I should not have been surprised that the first place I found myself was a center for the study of Kuttiyattam- the world’s oldest theatre form still living today (pictured above). The center called Natanakairali is located in Kerala, India and run by internationally acclaimed actor, director, and leading Kuttiyattam scholar Mr. Gopal Venu. I was honored to be accepted as his student and began training right away. With my life revolving completely around the center I decided it would also be a very worthwhile investment to take up classes with Venu’s wife, Nirmala Paniker a renowned scholar, dancer, and teacher of Mohiniyattam- the classical dance of Kerala known for it’s grace and curving movements which are used with hand gestures to depict stories.Though most students focus in only one of the 2 fields, I found that the 2 classes complemented each other wonderfully. The girls pictured below are my young classmates preparing to go onstage for a Mohiniyattam performance.
I also traveled into villages in the Himalayas where I danced with the children and into the desert of Rajasthan where I met gypsies and folk artists and learned a bit about their local string puppetry.
For more detailed accounts of the trip, you can visit my India travel blog
I will tell you here though that what I learned was more than I could have ever expected. The technique was not only a physical challenge and cultural key, but it opened my eyes to a new discipline- the discipline of energy, the precise awakening of the intangible world through the specified control of energy. The philosophy of the work was as fascinating as the work itself- they are after all one and the same. I believe the philosophies will be just as useful now to my own work as the physical language I acquired.