Raina Peterson, a non-binary artist of Fiji-Indian and English heritage, lives on Wurundjeri land in Australia. They had been in India to carry out on the Jodhpur Rajasthan Worldwide People Competition (26-30 October 2023). On the competition’s first “dance night” at Chokelao Bagh in Mehrangarh Fort, they carried out Narasimha or Man-Lion, in collaboration with Melbourne-based visible artist and composer Marco Cher-Gibard. Impressed by a poem by ninth century Tamil mystic poet, Andal — she was the one girl among the many 12 Alvar saint poets of the Sri Vaishnava custom — Narasimha makes use of the deity to discover the liminal or the in-between.
Educated in a number of South Asian motion traditions, together with yoga, Mohiniyattam, Kathakali and the martial artwork of Kalaripayattu, Peterson’s repertoire contains the critically-acclaimed queer dance present Bent Bollywood, and an Indian modern dance piece exploring trans identification, Third Nature. The dancer-choreographer, author and theatre-maker is enthusiastic about therapeutic from trauma, and the humanities. Right here, they discuss their observe, inspirations, incorporating abhinya of their performances, motion vocabulary and present tasks:
Narasimha — Man-Lion is a part of a queer classical Indian dance triptych from a transgender Hindu lens. How do you incorporate the contrasting components of violence from Narasimha’s imagery and sensuality from Andal’s poetry into your choreography, and on what sort of emotional journey do you intention to take the viewers?
I really like Andal’s work for her emotional depth, the putting imagery she makes use of, and the deep vein of sensuality which winds by her specific flavour of bhakti. I used to be actually drawn to this one verse from her poem Vin Nila Melappu the place she coquettishly appeals to Narasimha. I’ve at all times beloved the story of Narasimha and have at all times actually loved portraying him as a part of my classical Indian dance observe — there’s one thing satisfying about portraying such violent imagery in a dance type that’s usually perceived to be mushy and mild. I discovered Andal’s romantic attraction to him to be a bit startling for me, as I see him as a fierce deity with a violent story. The verse has gorgeous imagery, typical of her work, and I beloved the fantastic thing about the scene she’s portray, and Narasimha as a considerably unconventional topic of need. The poem lingered in my thoughts for a very long time. It was such a pleasure and an honour to bounce that verse. I wish to take audiences deep inside Andal’s poem, to expertise her longing, to satisfy the ferocity of Narasimha. One viewers member at RIFF stated that watching the efficiency felt like I used to be killing the evil inside all of them, which I discovered very shifting.
Your observe is deeply rooted in Mohiniyattam. How has this classical Indian dance type influenced your experimental works that discover (trans)gender, sexuality, spirituality, and time?
My predominant dance coaching has been in Mohiniyattam, and I’m so in love with the circles and the gooey fluidity of its motion vocabulary. My experimental work could not at all times embody Mohiniyattam adavus (steps/actions), however the circles and fluidity observe me round. I imagine the fluid high quality of Mohiniyattam lends itself very nicely to modern or experimental motion. In Narasimha, Mohiniyattam and Kathakali gave me a superb vocabulary to discover each violence and sensuality. Mohiniyattam is nice for magnificence and Kathakali is nice for extra ugly expressions, coupled with my very own expressive actions and my curiosity in enjoying with tempo, and I’ve loads of enjoyable dancing on the road between sensuality and violence, magnificence and ferocity. I additionally assume the music by Marco was excellent — he performs the ready guitar, an uncommon and barely chaotic instrument which has an unimaginable vary — he can create each aggressive “metallic” noise and ethereal soundscapes, which I feel completely seize the depth and great thing about Andal’s poem.
Your guru, Tara Rajkumar, performed a significant function in shaping your power in abhinaya, the artwork of emotional expression in classical Indian dance. How do you incorporate abhinaya into your performances, and the way does it contribute to the narratives you create?
Earlier than my guru realized Mohiniyattam from Smt Kalyani Kuttiyamma, she realized Kathakali from Sri Kalamandalam Krishna Nair, so her abhinaya was subsequent degree. I’m very grateful to have realized from her, as I used to be enraptured by her abhinaya, which has strongly influenced my work. I really like how artwork has the ability to generate deep emotion, so every time I create, I at all times take into consideration what I would like audiences to really feel, and the way I could make them really feel that. My observe contains producing emotion and power in myself utilizing my breath, and creating intimacy with audiences utilizing my gaze. In my final work, Mohini, I labored with Sapidah Kian, a dramaturg from a Western theatre background, to increase and increase my classical abhinaya for a Western context, to facilitate larger viewers understanding of the story and feelings. I discovered this each difficult and thrilling. I’m additionally concerned with embodiment, and utilizing the physique to generate and specific emotion, which has fashioned a lot of my experimental motion vocabulary.
Your influences vary from modern Indian dancers to queer efficiency artwork, Bollywood, and fantasy/sci-fi books. How do these various influences come collectively in your inventive course of, and what distinctive components do they carry to your work?
I feel that my background in queer efficiency artwork has been actually formative to my present observe. Performing in a membership setting comes with its personal challenges, corresponding to the necessity to strongly interact distracted audiences. Nonetheless, it was fantastic to have a secure house to discover gender and sexuality. I imagine that enjoying and experimenting together with your gender might be very liberating, no matter your gender identification, and in my case, it was very useful for me in determining my very own gender identification in addition to creating my power as a performer and experimental creator.
Might you share the inspiration behind your experimental work, Mohini, and what led you to current the story of the Hindu deity Mohini by the lens of the trans expertise?
A lot of the mainstream discourse round transgender identification is sort of adverse. Even when it’s not overtly hateful, many individuals give attention to the adverse features, like transphobia and gender dysphoria, the place we’re seen as objects of pity. I needed to create a piece the place transness is highly effective. On this work, I’ve interpreted Mohini as a trans deity. If God could also be seen to have a gender, if Sri Lakshmi could also be seen as a cisgender girl, then maybe I might even see Sri Vishnu’s transformation into Mohini as a gender transition. As a transgender Mohiniyattam dancer, it felt inevitable actually that I might make a piece about Mohini.
Mohini blends custom and subversion, drawing from classical Indian dance however bringing it into the modern current. How do you strike a stability between honouring custom and pushing the boundaries of the artwork type in your choreography?
When creating experimental work utilizing classical dance kinds it’s essential to return from a spot of respect, understanding and love. I at all times ask myself “why” — I have to be very clear in myself why I’m doing one thing in a selected manner. I don’t imagine in attempting to shock folks for the sake of shock worth, or being edgy for the sake of being edgy; every part will need to have a goal, even when solely I do know what that goal is. Narasimha and Mohini each may have been padams (in Carnatic classical music, a kind of quick music or the accompanying dance), however I discover it very liberating to make work outdoors of the buildings of the classical Indian dance margam (repertoire). It permits me to suit extra of me in. The experimental music of Marco Cher-Gibard has been fantastic for cracking me open and exploring totally different aspects of the ideas we’re working with.
Mohini is a technical marvel with dwell and recorded music and psychedelic stagecraft. How does this multimedia method improve the viewers’s expertise, and what challenges and alternatives does it convey to your choreography?
Mohini options laser and projection by Marco Cher-Gibard to create an intensely vivid psychedelic expertise for the viewers. When these visible results happen, we intend for audiences to expertise an altered state of non secular transformation. I regard these visible results as a technological utility of abhinaya. The lighting design by Alex Nguyen was additionally part of this; we used fog, lighting and choreography to recreate the Ksheera Sagara, the Ocean of Milk. Our guiding dramaturgical concept was that of maya (phantasm). We needed to solid an internet of enchantment over the viewers and take them on a journey, and we had been extraordinarily lucky to have had the assets and expertise to develop technological abhinaya on this manner.
My worry in making this work was that it will be overproduced. I’ve seen dance work the place there have been too many assets thrown on the artist, and the soul of the work will get misplaced in all of the spectacle. I didn’t need the essence of the work — the story, the choreography, the emotional journey — to be overwhelmed by expertise. The aim of the expertise was to reinforce and improve the story, choreography, and emotion, so there wanted to be a stability, we wanted to be exact and specific about its use. I didn’t wish to create a lighting present. As a performer, I wanted to match the power of the expertise, in any other case I’d get misplaced.
Might you share your imaginative and prescient for the whole triptych, and what overarching themes or narratives join the three components of this collection? What do you hope to convey to your viewers by this attitude on classical dance and mythology?
A lot of the Mohiniyattam dances I’ve realized inform the tales of the gods, so I discover it curious that despite the fact that I’m making experimental work, I’m nonetheless telling these identical tales. I imagine there’s nice energy and fact in these tales which might resonate with modern audiences no matter their faith, and I feel that there’s worth in retelling these tales from my very own subjectivity. I’m a queer transgender mixed-race Hindu from the Indian diaspora in Australia, and my subjectivity, like anybody else’s, is flavoured with totally different cultures, experiences, privileges and marginalities. The tales I’m telling are very previous, well-known and revered, and have been informed and retold many instances over the centuries. I’m including my voice to the multitude of voices telling these tales.
Half 3 of this triptych has the working title The Loss of life of Sita. The Ramayana is of nice private significance for me as it’s the textual content round which my Fiji-Indian group’s common communal Hindu observe revolved. This work will discover local weather grief, resisting methods of oppression and reconnecting with the earth. I’m so excited to start work on this.
Shireen Quadri is the editor of The Punch Journal Anthology of New Writing: Choose Quick Tales by Ladies Writers.