Prana: breath, a movement through the rasas
"Prana: Breath, a movement through the rasas" is a multidisciplinary work created in the summer of 2020 in virtual collaboration with Bharatanatyam dancers Rekha Iyer and Asha Rowland.
The piece features a number of other artists, including visual and performance art by Rekha and I's fellow Young Arts alum Xavier Lightfoot . "Prana" examines the duality between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Using the framework of the navarasas (emotional states of being in Indian classical dance), we explore the American emotional psychology surrounding these two transformative events.
This work was premiered on July 24th 2020 as a fundraiser event for The Okra Project, an American grassroots collective providing support to Black trans, non-binary, and gender-non conforming individuals.
CREDITS:
Dance
Choreographed & Performed by Asha Rowland & Rekha Iyer (Disciples of Hema and Krithika Rajagopalan)
Music
Composed, Mixed, & Produced by Noga Cabo
Noga Cabo (guitar, percussion, vocals, synths)
Jahnvi Madan (clarinet)
Yi-mei Templeman (cello)
Adam Cabo (percussion)
Dassi Rosenkrantz (bass)
Asha Rowland (sollu kattu)
Rekha Iyer (sollu kattu)
Spoken Word & Recorded Excerpts
MC Zulu (spoken word / written by Noga Cabo, Rekha Iyer, & Asha Rowland)
Angela Davis (excerpt from “Oppression and Repression in the U.S.” speech given at California State University in 1972)
Visual & Performance Art
by Xavier Lightfoot (in order of appearance)
“Who do you call when police murder??”
“A Black Man In A Homophobic Society”
“Self Decay”
“Translation of Fear”
“White Silence”
Video
Filmed by Sahbee
Directed by Asha Rowland
Edited by Rebecca Hurson
Locations
Pineapple Studios - Forest Park, IL
The Dance Building - Des Plaines, IL
