Voices in My Head: A Review of Ragamala
Julie VW
SMU
Cultural Studies AA 610
Feb. 17, 2003
At the risk of being committed for schizophrenia, I will confess that I hear voices in my head. They talk more than I ought to admit. During a long drive, a bad performance, or a boring lecture, the conversations happening in my head can be quite entertaining! Often, the voices have discussions with deeper thought and intelligence than the voices of real people outside my head! I'd like to share a conversation that took place inside my brain during Ragamala's February 7 performance of Aavya.
VOICE 1: Wow! How do they do that? It's amazing!
VOICE 2: What's the big deal? It looks easy.
VOICE 1: No, the human body doesn't move like that. How do they get 10 people to do it at the same time? It's amazing!
VOICE 2: They look like they're having fun. I wanna jump on stage and join them. I could do it. It can't be that difficult.
VOICE 1: Don't be silly, you can't even do an aerobics video without looking like the world's biggest fool!
That evening, in Tedd Mann Theater, the Ragamala Dance Company did what all good performing artists do. They took a difficult art form, made it look easy, and seemed to genuinely enjoy doing it! The international band, Speaking in Tounges, provided music, which, in the Bharatanatyam tradition, dancers interpreted through movement. Technical difficulties with the sound system and costumes detracted from an otherwise interesting performance.
The second half of the show combined readers theater, interpretative dance, sign language,
and music to tell Thomas Mann's Story The Transposed Heads. In this old legend of Inida, two friends, Shridaman and Nanda, find their heads accidently switched after trying to sacrifice themselves to the goddess Kali. This creates a confusing predicament for Sita, a wife with half a husband in one man's head, and half a husband in another man's body. Although not intended to be a comedy, the story has some great lines which had the whole house giggling.
Perhaps the greatest hallmark of a quality performance is the ability to keep those rowdy, opinionated voices inside my head engaged and entertained for an extended period of time! Transforming Heads told a good story in an original way, that kept all the voices inside my head engaged, entertained, and (for once) quiet!
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