Tycho drumming- class on Nov. 19

Class on Wednesday was very informative and entertaining. I found it interesting that tycho drum performing is used to communicate the art of an Asian male's body, and to eliminate or disprove stereotypes of Asians in general. Watching him perform and watching the videos he showed us in class made me want to start playing the drums again. I like that the art is not restricted to Japanese people. I think tycho drumming would stir up a lot of interest in colleges.
On another note, as Guru Francis pointed out, many of the time-keeper beats are similar to those that we learned in class. We could also use some of the beats as chants in our Banjar.

November 12- the practice before the Kimball performance

The Kimball performance is only two days away. I came to class a little late because of registration, but when I arrived, the banjar that was not performing at Kimball joined the Kimball banjar. I think this was really helpful for us because as a member of the "non-Kimball" banjar, I felt like we would have a lot to learn next week for the middle school performance. Joining in with everyone was easy and fun. I also liked seeing Guru Francis's cute kids :)
I think the Kimball performance banjar will do very well on Friday and I'm looking forward to our middle school performance!

Nov. 5- Discussion and Dance

Talking in the Banjar today about the recent election was very refreshing. We did not discuss Obama's victory in any of my other classes, and I'm glad that people felt comfortable enough to share their views in our class community. Just like Guru Francis was referring to, I too was excited about living through an election that will be recorded in history books and about the idea that change is coming. Guru Francis's discussion made me realize that a lot of progress still needs to be made in terms of discrimination and ignorance. I appreciate him sharing his personal experiences with facing racism to enlighten us about the prevalence of the current issue.
The two groups (the Kimball banjar and the other banjar) have improved a lot in their performance. As a part of the "other" banjar, I felt it was a little difficult to go through with the scenes because not everyone could come to class the same days. This may be problematic considering we only have a few classes left, but I think everything will work out well.

Week of October 29

This past week, I was unable to attend class because of chondromalacia in my knee. I liked the fact that I was still able to participate this class period. The non-performance Banjar created and wrote down possible formations. I'm excited that we will be able to perform at the middle school, and that some of our classmates will perform at the Kimball. I'm curious to see how the scenes that we (the banjar that won't perform at the Kimball) will fuse with the scenes that the Kimball banjar is recreating. It seems like the final project will turn out well!

October 18- Dussehra Festival

While at home for the weekend of October 17, I attended a festival at my temple called Dussehra. I thought I'd share a little bit about it with you all since we are reading the Ramayana in class. Dussehra, also known as Vija Dashami, is a festival to commemorate Ram's triumph over Ravana. Dussehra also marks the end of Navratri, which is a festival of "nine nights" that Hindus spend worshiping the nine forms of the goddess Durga Mata. Some Hindus fast and pray for health and prosperity.

The Dussehra festival I attended was a lot of fun. There were stalls with vendors selling clothing and food, and dance performances ranging from folk and Bollywood to classical by young children (see picture above). To mark the end of the celebration, everyone went outside to watch Ravana being burned. Temple devotees built a large Ravana with sticks and foil, and then set fire to it.

"Ha ha ha" - oct. 13

Last week, class was very entertaining. The ball activity was fun and definitely made me feel more comfortable acting differently. It was very difficult for me to get into that form, but after Guru Francis turned off the lights, it became a lot easier for me because I was no longer as conscious of myself. I think I ran into a few people (sorry!) so I had to put out my hands in order to make sure I wasn't near anyone. I think I was one of the few people in the middle, because I felt like not very many people were near me when we had to start the "ha ha ha" exercise. The laughing exercise was relaxing and different from anything I had ever done before. Talking as a banjar afterwards clarified how the exercise made us more comfortable as a unit. Overall, I enjoyed class today.

October 1

Wednesday's class, I felt, was very productive in terms of learning Bharatanatyam. I really like having both Kalyani and Ravali teach this part because they both bring their individual styles to the dance. I also liked breaking up into two groups; we were able to receive individual attention and improve. Guru Francis's favorite jati is also my favorite. I'm excited to learn more of the combinations. I think learning the combinations helps me remember the individual steps. I'm definitely a fan of the head movements too; when I was younger, my older sister and I would always do those head movements after watching classical performances at culture shows (just because it was fun), and now I actually get to use them :)

Banjar

In class today, I felt very comfortable discussing our goals and our perspectives of the course thus far. I thought being outside was a positive change in environment and the dancing felt more contextualized. I am enjoying learning Bharatanatyam because it seems like a very disciplined dance that can be employed as a communication mechanism.

On a different note, after reading about the social system of Bali and Banjar, it seems like there are parallels between the Balinese system and our class; each individual in our class, as we learned today, has a goal he or she strives to achieve, but there is also a feeling of community, empowering each student to strive to reach a common goal and allowing us as students to be comfortable with one another.

I’m looking forward to next class to learn more Bharatanatyam and am interested to learn more about the Balinese system.