Rasa Unmasked

Watch Rasa Unmasked Online

rasaunmasked — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:58:46 +0000

You can view our opening show from the Sydney Opera House in its entirety online!

Choose from the videos in the third colum or visit this page on All Around You to explore all of the video content made during the Rasa Unmasked project.

Posted in General Tagged: all, around, rasa, unmasked, video, you

Rasa Unmasked in Singapore and India

rasaunmasked — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:45:57 +0000

Our hectic tour finished with a string of shows through Singapore, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi. Below are some reviews of the performances.

Singapore: Inkpot Theatre

Bangalore: The Hindu

Chennai: The Hindu

Posted in Press Tagged: hindu, inkpot, theatre

Rasa Unmasked in Malaysia

rasaunmasked — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:56:16 +0000

Last week, Rasa Unmasked performed to audiences in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

The week in KLPac began illustriously with a visit from the Queen and continued for five nights afterwards in KLPac’s fine main theatre space. Penang was altogether a different affair, just one big night in Dewan Sri Penang with a very warm and positive welcome from the locals.

A selection of posts about the week:
A review of the opening night, with photos from the show and of the Queen

An interview with Alex Dea, talking about the music from the show

A review of the show that also featured in the New Strait Times

Posted in General, Press Tagged: kuala, lumpur, penang

Fascinating reviews of Sydney Season of Rasa Unmasked

rasaunmasked — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:40:26 +0000

For those of us deeply involved in Rasa Unmasked and at least familiar with the spread of classical arts in India, Malaysia and Indonesia, many of the recent reviews of the performance have been fascinating reads. It is always interesting to see how people from different cultural perspectives might view a collaboration like this.

You can read four reviews of the Opera House Season here:

Arts Hub – Katie Preston Toepfer

Kevin Jackson

Sydhwaney

Sudheesh Bhasi

And if you missed Jill Syke’s review in the Sydney Morning Herald of the Casula Powerhouse, performance, it can be found here: Jill Syke’s Review

Please let us know if you have written a review, or have comments of your own on the show – just type them in to the comment box below!

Posted in Press Tagged: australia, review

Rasa Unmasked – Review by Sudheesh Bhasi (Opera House Season)

rasaunmasked — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:38:09 +0000

Rasa Unmasked performed at The Studio in the famed Sydney Opera House was an intricate exploration into the depths of the human psyche. What makes us human? What is the nature of these emotions that we feel? Where do they come from? There were no precise answers but as a part of the audience, one could not but feel that the performance was holding a mirror up to our very selves.

The word Rasa has been bandied about in Indian classical dance since the days of the Natyashastra, a 2000-year-old treatise on the performing arts. And it’s questionable whether its essence has not been forgotten somewhere along the way. Despite it’s centrality to classical forms of dance in India, inevitably, the artiste is often conceived as the centre of any performance. In truth, the Rasa theory turns this view on its head and the artiste becomes a mere conduit, through which he or she can inspire and overwhelm the audience with emotion. The dancer rises and falls, lives and dies, not by his excellence alone but by that which is felt by the audience!

The emotion expressed by the dancer (bhava) has to be fully transmitted to the audience for Rasa to be born. It’s neither the artiste nor the bhava which is ultimately important in the ancient aesthetic dramatic theory. A work of genius is not that which is able to convince the audience that they are watching a great piece of acting but for them to forget for a while that there is any acting at all. Instead, they are fully present in the moment, feeling every emotion expressed by the dancer – the joyous flirtation between lovers in the midst of spring, the unutterable fear of the unknown or the sheer rage felt in battle amidst the hacking of limbs.

Rasa Unmasked is a bold and re-interpretative work revolving around mapping out the various human emotions that underlie our very existence. A collaboration between Anandavalli’s Lingalayam Dance Company, Ramli Ibrahim’s Sutra Dance Theatre and ethnomusicologist/composer Alex Dea, the performance does what it sets out to do – make the audience feel.

The show opens to one of the male dancers, Guna, barely covered with a dhothi, emerging crawling from a tangled rubbery mesh on the floor, surrounded by dancers with uncanny face masks. An eerie suspense prevailed as the opening scene unfolded, compounded by the haunting Javanese instrumental music. As he wakes up and explores his new life through dance and breathes life into his female counterpart (January Low), the sense of expectation and foreboding felt by the audience was tangible for the discerning viewer.

The focus being on the inner world meant that at times the performance was slow-going in its lack of grand, expansive moments except during a brilliantly choreographed interlude depicting a scene of war and carnage. It was vintage Ramli as he incorporated Balinese dance movements, switching its demure movements for a dance of total wild abandon with convincing abhinaya. Anandavalli’s ability to express subtle emotions and its constantly changing nature was fascinating although her exaggerated lip movements were distracting at times. A true expert in dramatisation, her clean lines and sure steps were still evident in her maiden return to the stage, five years after retirement from performances.

However, it is important to point out that the performance was meant to dwell on the inner world of emotions, its slow, brooding nature especially at the beginning merely setting the scene, drawing the audience in closer and closer before bursting forth in bouts of energetic choreography. The younger dancers generally turned in a commendable performance with those from Sutra standing out in their light-footedness and ability to carry themselves well, especially when performing contemporary movements.

For the unseasoned viewer, while the stylised aspects such as the hand-gestures and movements, strongly drawing upon Indian classical dance genres of Bharathanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi, might have been a bit hard to grasp, there is no doubt that the subtle and raw emotions were picked up effortlessly. There is a universality in emotion that belies the notion that it is only through difference and contradiction that we can conceptualise and understand others.

Perhaps, nowhere else was it more evident than in the way Rasa Unmasked brought together different dancing traditions, further merging with an evocative eclectic score of Javanese and Indian classical music. Dig at the very root of all artistic endeavours and the essence which shines forth speaks the language of universality. To be able to recognise this is a great gift, because it means that one transcends the misplaced, puerile notion of ‘fusion’ art in today’s popular culture.

And Ramli, Anandavalli and Alex are blessed with inordinate amounts of this great artistic and visionary gift. Rasa Unmasked is not a ‘fusion’ work as it is understood today which seeks to merely juxtapose various traditions together, instead it is a piece of work which expresses the underlying unity in all Art. The performance truly strips away our masks and allow us to relish and feel our primal emotions once again.

Posted in Press Tagged: bhasi, sudheesh

The Nine Rasas explored in Rasa Unmasked

rasaunmasked — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:11:51 +0000

Rasa is produced when man comes into contact with Life. His reactions to life stimuli are reflected on his many facial expressions and body language. The sum total of his ‘rasas’ produces the Mask, the face of his highest ideal: Of Man and also his God.

Adbhutham (wonderment)
The birth of ‘purusha’ (male principle) and ‘prakriti’ (female principle) on the Water of Existence. As this Principle of Duality of male and female, manifests, the evolution of
movement is born and the miracle of dance through the combined senses of sound and rhythm strikes wonderment in our hearts.

Shringaram (love)
Cupid’s arrows celebrate the birth of spring awakening the flora and the fauna and arouse the hitherto dormant and sensuous emotions. Celestial beings give life to temple frescoes. The Courtesan (Nayika) is the personification of the Original Desire. However, she remembers and yearns for that perfect union, that perfect love which is elusive, with the Nayak (Hero).

Veeram (valour)
The investing of the Nayak (Hero) with his symbols of valour, consecrating the space and defining his power.

Karuna (compassion)
Religion, the very embodiment of compassion, has instead become the shadow that divides. The devotee seeks the original spirit of compassion residing in our conscience to save us from disharmony and the apathy towards the disenfranchised and downtrodden victims of blind followers and misinterpreters of religions.

Hasyam (laughter)
The priceless cure and perfect therapy for sorrow.

Bibhatsam (disgust)
We cringe at the sight of the unpalatable.

Bhayam (terror)
The weak and the oppressed show fear under persecution and cruelty by the aggressor.

Raudram (anger)
The emotion brought forth during the confrontation of sworn enemies, provoking each other and swearing threats and vengeance.

Shantam (serenity)
Fulfilment, spirituality, and realisation of divinity of being. That all-elusive peace.

Posted in General Tagged: programme, rasa

Rasa Unmasked finishes sold-out Australian tour, travels to Malaysia, SIngapore and India

rasaunmasked — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:05:10 +0000

Many people have requested information on how to book for the shows in Malaysia, Singapore and India. This information is regularly updated and always available on our Buy Tickets page.

Posted in General

Opera House Season Sold Out!

rasaunmasked — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:52:26 +0000

The Opera House season of Rasa Unmasked has sold out. Standing room tickets are available for $20 and are selling fast. Sydneysiders, snap them up today if you want to catch the show!

Posted in General Tagged: house, opera, sydney, tickets

Video Excerpts from NSW Art Gallery Artist Discussion

rasaunmasked — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:00:10 +0000

Last evening, Anandavalli, Ramli Ibrahim and Alex Dea discussed with Dr. Kalpana Ram the Rasa theory, intercultural collaboration and India’s modernisation of its classical arts.

VIEW EXCERPTS BY CLICKING THE VIDEOS IN THE THIRD COLUMN TO THE RIGHT

Posted in Alex Dea, Lingalayam, Sutra Tagged: art, artist, discussion, gallery, nsw

Jill Sykes reviews Rasa Unmasked

rasaunmasked — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:05:34 +0000

“Contemporary dance, developed from classical Indian styles, does the unmasking in this fascinating international collaboration.”

Read the full review in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Posted in General