Adventures In India


7 October, 2008



DIVING IN
As our lives move away from the structure and value of community and move towards the notion of the individual, more and more I feel that things do not get talked about. I believe passionately that we need to re-engage in conversation in our world. We need to find forums to discuss, debate, criticise, and celebrate the issues that are integral to our lives. This is why I am an artist and dancer. I see art as one forum through which this conversation can occur, and a forum which utilises and draws on a vocabulary and knowledge base that is usually unheard or un-valued in our society, knowledge of the heart and knowledge of the body. But I am the first to admit that I don’t always put this into practice in my daily life.

Recently I have re-discovered the power and beauty of conversation and of sharing one’s thoughts, ideas and heart with other people. I think the majority of us have grown to believe that we can only really share our most intimate thoughts, fears, and hopes with our very closest friends, family members or lovers. And outside of these very few people we tend to stick to chit-chat and niceties. I know this is the case for me. But I have been reminded recently of the joy and healthiness of ‘diving in’, of opening up and participating in deep conversations with all kinds of people with whom I have all kinds of relationships. And often, when I do, I find that the other person is craving to dive in also, just waiting for the invitation. In diving I discover amazing things about people. In diving, ideas, hopes, and dreams are shared and a connectedness grows. I think there is nothing more empowering to the human being than to have one’s ideas or thoughts validated by a shared identity or belief system with others. Through this sharing there is a feeling that we are not alone, that we can face the problem together, and as a result, a strengthening of spirit. So this is a call out to everyone that cares, to whip out their weaponry of words and start to talk.

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Adventures In India


1 October, 2008



ON PRAYER
I’ve been thinking a lot about religion. Sometimes I get strange looks here in India when I say I’m not religious. In Australia when I say this I feel like the status quo. Apart from recognising human nature’s need to believe in SOMETHING, I have never quite understood or connected with the idea of a god. Though, if there are any religions that have appealed to me it has been the religions from the east, particularly Buddhism. Buddhism has always fascinated me. I have often noted down its principles and philosophies with the intention of letting them lead my life. It is the concept of interconnection, of the one-ness of all life that stands out most strongly for me.

In India religion is often inseparable from life. For many people they are one and the same thing. Being so immersed and surrounded by religions I have learnt a thing or two, and come to one very strong conclusion about what may be the most potent and powerful aspect of religious practice in our troubled contemporary world. Prayer. The way that prayer allows oneself time to be thankful, to reflect, and to dream. Prayer time is one moment in an individual’s day when they think about themselves in relationship to the rest of the world – to their families, friends, country, world, future. It’s the one time of the day when an individual is given the space and time to be quiet within and through this create a space where self-reflection and awareness can exist and grow. And this, I think, is the key. Perhaps if I can find time within my day to take this prayer-ful space, to be thankful, I will have taken the most potent part of religion and place it in my own life.

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Adventures In India


27 September, 2008



THE LUCKY ARTIST – FEAR IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Every time I make a new work there are always tears somewhere along the way.
I begin a process, an idea, with such excitement, enthusiasm, and rigour. And then, as I delve into it and try to find its shape I become anxious, uncertain and questioning. There is always a point in the process at which I loose all perspective, where I feel completely lost and uncertain of myself, my ideas, and why I am attempting to do what I do. Once the work finds its shape ad is ‘completed’ the initial excitement floods back, along with a satisfaction of having found a form to voice myself and the ideas I feel most passionately about. The journey on the way though, this uncertain place, is so painful(!) and I have often wondered if I can find an easier pathway through it. Can I soften the process, or soften myself to not take it on so much, so personally, so emotionally. Can I be able to enjoy the process of questioning and uncertainty and let go of the panic of control-less-ness I feel, and that I find so challenging.

But then recently I have come to the conclusion that perhaps, in some ways, this process is natural, and powerful. When do people get the chance, on a regular basis in their lives, to question themselves, their ideas or their society, and to have the opportunity, the structure, or the form to question and re-assess in a ‘safe’ way? Usually these moments occur at turning points in one’s life, often following a disaster or tragic event. But I, as an artist, get to go through the process, or am forced to go through the process, on a regular basis. This shedding of skin, of gaining a stronger understanding of oneself, one’s place in the world and one’s sense of truth, happiness and purpose is an incredible gift offered to the life of an artist.



Adventures In India


25 September, 2008



“This world is inhabited by all kinds of people. They are isolated by land and water, religion, customs, habits. The minds and hearts of these people are much alike. Under sudden or stressed emotions, they blossom forth or explode in riots, fights, dance, song, prayer. At such times, they become one mind, one heart. And the world vibrates with the intensity of their feelings, emotions, angers, laughters.”     – Gandhi

Thought this was an appropriate message to send out into the world with tonight being the opening of the company’s ‘Natarani’ theater season for 2008-2009. The dancers and musicians will perform their new work about Gandhi.



Adventures In India


22 September, 2008



CENSORSHIP, PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE

An American man’s home was raided immediately following the recent Ahmedabad bombings following a connection between his computer and an email claiming responsibility for the blasts. The director of the organization hosting me has, in the past, had to flee the country after being threatened by mobs outside her home for making comments about the state government’s treatment of the 2001 riots. And then we see the law-changing that has occurred in the United States Government over the past few years during the “War on Terror” where people have been stripped of their privacy, with other countries following in their footsteps.
All this makes me acutely aware of and question my own privacy. In a cyber-connected world where information flows in what one feels it is a democratic space, as I publish my articles the question of surveillance always weighs on my mind. There are many things I’m learning about this country’s history – distant and recent that infuriate me, anger me, frighten me, upset me and impassion me to say something. (Don’t get me wrong, this country is winning my heart more and more each day with its vibrant beauty and warmth but, like any culture, it has its good and bad. Nothing is black or white but usually comes in all shades of grey!) But then I second guess myself and wonder who might be reading. What if I said something offensive to someone with more power than I. Why on earth should someone in this world have more power than I do when it comes to freedom of speech? The notion of this maddens me. But all the same I have monitored this space and not written in some thoughts that I have had. And, just as I wrote in my entry on fear, I hate that the people who are using fear through surveillance to paralyse us, to hold us back, to stop us, to silence us, have an effect on me, even in some small way.
For now, I am holding my thoughts, searching for the best way to send them into the world. Perhaps they’ll end up being danced.



Adventures In India


16 September, 2008



A TRIP TO THE ZOO
Yesterday I went to the zoo. I swear there were more people staring at me than at the animals. I am an exotic and rare species.  Though I’m fortunately not stuck in a cage. It’s an odd feeling being stared at as a specimen. I’ve always found the idea of a zoo a bizarre thing. I mean, zoo’s are wonderful institutions in the way they preserve and protect and give value to animal life, and in the way they give people an opportunity to connect to nature. But my question is why have we removed ourselves so much from nature that we need to cage it up in little bits and pieces in order to experience it? Why are we so disconnected from the natural world? Why/ how/ when did we lose our ability to live within it? And how can we feel so ok with this?





“I have nothing to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills” Gandhi

There was another terrorist serial blast in India this weekend. This time in Dehli.
I hold on tightly to Gandhi’s words.



Adventures In India


4 September, 2008



Experiences so far….
Yoga daily
Learning Kelari
Invited to watch a traditional south Indian wedding (in North India!)
Watched a Bollywood Horror in the cinema at midnight!
Practicing my “Kemcho” and “Majamas”
Finding that this is a “dry state” in which everyone seems to drink!
Eating chai and chapatti on the kitchen floor of my friend’s uncle’s son’s house in the old city.
Finding myself with superstar status on the streets of the city.
Seeing 100’s of versions of Lord Krishna (…and its only just the beginning)
Visited the Ghandi Ashram to be inspired by one of the most amazing figures in history
Finding an Aussie Cookie store. Didn’t know that’s what we’re famous for!?!? I guess in a vegetarian state a good-ol- Aussie BBQ probably wouldn’t go down so well.
Watched the Darpana company pull together a brand new show, from conception to production, costumes and all, in 8 days. (The work is based on Khadi, the traditional handmade clothing of India promoted by Gandhi as a non-violent resistance to the oppression from the British. These days it proves its worth again offering sustainability to the environment (a very eco friendly product with very little waste and no synthetic products used in the process) as well as local communities (providing the community with jobs and income).)

About to…
Go on tour with the company for a week. I’ll see 5 cities in 6 days whilst the company continues on to perform in 18 cities in 20 days! And India is not a small country!



Adventures In India


30 August, 2008



PROLOGUE
As a child I used go for morning runs with my dad during my summer holidays. He used to say hello to everyone we passed. And everyone would say hi back. I remember the wonderful feeling in my heart when this occurred. I felt connected to a community. I felt that people were good. And I thought my dad the most kind and trusting person in the world.

THE NON-LOOK
As a western woman entering into an Indian culture I wasn’t sure where to look. So to be safe I turned on my ‘non-look’ that I have refined so skillfully over the years. Its that look where you glaze out into the distance, appearing to be present in the world around you but avoiding all direct eye contact. The “I am confident but too busy, too involved, too distracted to look at you” look. Almost any stranger I walk past in the street at home knows how to give this look. In my country, to acknowledge a stranger on the street with a non-obtrusive head nod is one thing, but to look them in the eye for any length of time, and with sincerity, is unthinkable. And then, to say hello or engage in a conversation, well that’s just downright ludicrous! What is it that sets up this barrier? Are we too busy for other people who do not have a direct part to play in our lives? Are we scared? Do we assume the worst in everyone’s character, a fear drilled into us from Primary School when we’re taught about ‘stranger-danger’?

Anyway, I came into this country (India) warned that ‘all men think you’re flirting with them if you look them in the eye or smile’, and so like a good western woman I brought my well trained ‘non-look’ with me and tried it out a couple of times. But firstly, what a load of bollocks that turned out to be. People are people are people. And as a new person entering into a new community all I wanted to do was to really look. I wanted to show respect to these people and their land, to show my gratitude, like any guest does. How rude it would be not to look. So, after some hesitation, I opened my eyes and actually looked, and the world opened up to me. I was seeing. I was learning. I was sharing. I was understanding. It made sense to acknowledge the other, especially because I am the outsider, the stranger.
So now I am walking around with open eyes everywhere I go and am meeting the most wonderful faces and hearts. And it makes me wonder what might happen if I did this at home?



Adventures In India


26 August, 2008



COMRADES, I NEED YOUR HELP
I’ve been thinking a lot about hope and fear and how they exist in our world over the past year and, having recently landed in India on a three month Asialink residency, these ideas are flaring up like never before. Coming here, and being here, has allowed me to see and experience both hope and fear at a magnitude I have never felt before. And so I’ve decided to dive into this idea during my residency, perhaps eventually moulding all my research into a performance work.

My first step is to open up a discussion and forum about hope and fear to as many people from as many walks of life as possible. (Yes, that includes you!) I have put together some initial questions just to get the juices flowing (see below). I hope that you might find some time to be able to answer some of them or, even better, respond with a more open dialogue about these issues. Feel free to take the idea on any tangents you desire and to respond in which ever format suits you best; from text, to recorded sound files, or even video recordings.

Many many thanks,
Aimee

QUESTIONS OF FEAR
1. What does fear mean for you? How would you define it?
2. What do you fear?
3. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced fear?
4. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced fearlessness?
5. How old are you? And has your relationship to fear changed over your lifetime?
6. What symbols, actions, or images in everyday life represent or depict fear for you?

QUESTIONS OF HOPE
7. What does hope mean for you? How would you define it?
8. Do you feel hopeful?
9. What do you hope for – today?
- this year?
- the future?
10. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced hope?
11. Can you recall and describe a situation or event where you experienced hopelessness?
12. How old are you? And has your relationship to hope changed over your lifetime?
13. What symbols, actions, or images in everyday life represent or show hope to you?

FINAL QUESTION
14. Which feeling is stronger for you today, fear or hope?