BUDGET PLAN:
For the performance, the first thing to do is to sort out the magnitude of the venture. To begin, the funding agencies would be the British museum and the ArtsCouncil UK for petitions on sponsorship for the show. At least a year before the performance begins, the planning stage would be implemented. The things to consider are the following:
The number of dancers required for each of the performance.
The musicians and technicians required to complement the performing artists.
Supporting dancers to be auditioned and accepted.
Creating or importing the necessary props that will be used for the performance.
The customized costumes and jewellery for the artistes.
Training over a specific time period, individually and as a group.
Technical specs include:
The arrangement of the space in the museum for its execution.
The time of the performance, and the time interval between each performance.
How many shows will be put up in a day and for how many days will this curation last?
The lights and sound equipment desirable for each artist depending on their dance.
At the Museum:
A couple of recces or site surveys of the museum by the performers to help them reconsider performing or technical issues, if any.
A couple of rehearsals/ walk throughs before the day of the Curation to watch the flow of the entire piece.
Funding technicalities:
The payment will be for the performing artists, the supporting artists, the musicians, transport charges, and charges for the stay of the various artists involved in the production. An appropriate social media account could be created to promote the curation on different platforms. Posters and handouts could be put up in various organisations and educational institutions. The Museum can promote the work as an upcoming Exhibit in their website and link up with other platforms of museums and galleries to promote the exhibit. Various social media campaigns and fundraisers can be established to gather funding, apart from governmental or ArtsCouncilUK’s funding resources, if necessary. Partnership with the cultural institutions back in the places of origin, and in the diaspora across the UK that are particular to those dances will also have to be established for promoting the venture.
EXECUTION IN THE MUSEUM:
Before we explain the execution of this plan in a museum, the performance needs to be explained.
The performance is in two phases:
The first is the video, that we have submitted as a part of the portfolio: the video follows the order of the trail of colonialism from India to the Middle East (Syria/Jordan belt), to Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and culminates finally in Ghana. The video, thus, traces the route map of a colonial regime in geographically placed physical reality. Therefore, the transitions are different.
For the Museum however, we envision the production with a slight difference.
We have choreographed it with respect to the design of the museum itself.
Thus we will be leading the performance at the Middle east section with Sarah, leading up to the south Asian room with Subhashini. From there, she will lead audience out to the store with Naiara waiting there, and there will be a transition between them at the store space, after which Naiara will lead the audience to the Egyptian room. From the Egyptian room comes the final part of the curation at the African section, after which Mariama will lead them into the open space outside at the Atrium for her bit.
Since the show would feature sections of the different dances in this project, we will create a timetable with specific times during the day for each of the dances in this project to be showed. This is in order to be able to engage the public or audience in these dance sessions more effectively, while making time for redoing the props and getting our technical specifics and musicians ready for the dances. Each one of us will station our musicians/ drummers at specific points while the audience will spread around this setting in order to have a good view of both the dance, and the process accompanying it.
Sarah:
I will begin in the Middle-East section by inviting and encouraging audience to stand in line next to me. They will be holding each other's hands and I will be leading them with basic dabke steps from its historical formation and choreography, while musicians behind us are playing. I will then detach from the audience while they will be encouraged to start clapping along with the music as spectators, and from there the musicians will change the tempo and I will be performing a solo of dabke in its so-called modern form. At this point I will be performing the solo crossing the Middle-Eastern section with the audience following and clapping and into the South Asian section, where Subhashini will be taking over.
Subhashini:
Once Sarah leads the audience out into the South Asian section, dancing and clapping for them to follow, I will encourage the audience to form a circle around me. The circular space is reminiscent of the space for dance in the past as opposed to the proscenium stage used for bharatanatyam today, and I will be performing a Bharatanatyam piece called the Alarippu, with my musicians seated behind me. In the background, I will project the way it was done by devadasis in the early 1900’s, so the audience can see the transformation of the piece. At the end of it, I will be leading the audience out to the store with more non-bharatanatyam movements to show the difference in what is considered “classical” in dancing.
Naiara:
At the store, Subhashini and I will perform together in a way as to highlight the differences between the forms, and the ridiculousness of each of us trying to be like the other, to further the claim of essentialising all the dancers from the East beyond Europe as “oriental” dancers. I will then lead the audience to the Egyptian Quarter, where I will perform Raqs-Shaaqi around the room to an audience that will be spread across the room in whichever space the want to occupy. This is primarily because I will be personally engaging with the audience and making eye contact even as I dance in different directions.
Mark:
As Naiara finishes her oriental dance, she will trigger the transition into Adamu dance by jumping. The dance will start with the groups (groups 2, 3 and 4) of Adamu dancers stationed in the various rooms, that display Maasai costumes items. These rooms will have audiences viewing the collections. Each group (2, 3 and 4) of Adamu dancers in the various rooms will be bejewelled in the Maasai traditional attire and colours although they will be missing some parts of the attire. That is to mean that each group will only have one particular ornament on them, which resembles the Maasai item on display in the room that they are in. One of the groups (group 1) will remain at the open space on the African floor section, which will be the location for the climax and close of the performance. As Naiara Approaches the open space in and triggers the transition the dance group here will sing a short chant that will signal the other groups in the rooms to start dancing. The groups will sing the same tune and dance similar choreographies as they interact with the audiences in their rooms. The group in the open space will stand in a line formation, waiting for the other groups to cue them. The cue will come after 6 repetitions of the chant sang in the collection rooms. Groups 2, 3 and 4 dancers will then change tune and start moving with their audience towards the open space. On reaching the open space, the groups of dancers will adorn the ornaments on the group 1, in that the group will have full costume and regalia for dancing Adamu. Once each of the group 1 dancers has been fully decked, groups 2, 3 and 4 will then move into the audience cue group 1 to start their choreography. Group one will then cue the audience to join in the jump. The other groups of dancers now in the audience will then help them learn the movement and jump with the group 1. This will mark the climax of the performance as the entire room reverberates with the sound of the Masaai.
Oyinkansola:
After the Masaai performance, participants will be called with the Bata drum and chant, as dancers will lead them to the atrium where they will be organized in a circular shape for a communal engagement as it was in the olden days instead of the proscenium stage. They can choose to sit or stand, depending on how the music controls them. The performance will start with Bata ensemble drummers who will play the Yoruba idioms and proverbs. Out of the audience, the male dancers all dressed in the Yoruba adire dashiki and Sokoto will dance into the circular space doing acrobatics. After a while, they will begin to dance in synchronicity to the fast-paced rhythms played by the drummer. Their last movements will make them prostrate to usher the female dancers in. Female dancers will be dressed in different patterns of Adire Iro, Buba and gele. The last movements of the male dancers will welcome a new rhythm of Bata for the female dancers, as they will start singing and dancing simultaneously into the circular space. After they do a first batch of the dance, they pick one male dancer each and then they do the couple dance together to another rhythm that the drummers will play. The couple dance will display some Yoruba traditional stories and myths. Mariama will coordinate her Agbekor performance, and at the end of the two performances, we will both engage in the discussion session with the audience.
Mariama:
I will perform the Agbekor dance with live music/drum and a circular audience in an open space rather than recorded or put on a proscenium stage at the museum. So this will continue in the open space at the Atrium of the Museum. I will be using some of the displayed Ghanaian collections at the museum as props. I will also use this opportunity to explain to the audience the type of props, costumes, history and the stories the songs describe. Afterwards will be discussions about the song meaning, costumes, props and history of the people of Volta region of Ghana and the dance as well. Soon, the other performers will join in, and we will all engage the audience in the open space of the Atrium for questions and answers, queries, and a quick talk on the intentions behind our performances.
For the performance, the first thing to do is to sort out the magnitude of the venture. To begin, the funding agencies would be the British museum and the ArtsCouncil UK for petitions on sponsorship for the show. At least a year before the performance begins, the planning stage would be implemented. The things to consider are the following:
The number of dancers required for each of the performance.
The musicians and technicians required to complement the performing artists.
Supporting dancers to be auditioned and accepted.
Creating or importing the necessary props that will be used for the performance.
The customized costumes and jewellery for the artistes.
Training over a specific time period, individually and as a group.
Technical specs include:
The arrangement of the space in the museum for its execution.
The time of the performance, and the time interval between each performance.
How many shows will be put up in a day and for how many days will this curation last?
The lights and sound equipment desirable for each artist depending on their dance.
At the Museum:
A couple of recces or site surveys of the museum by the performers to help them reconsider performing or technical issues, if any.
A couple of rehearsals/ walk throughs before the day of the Curation to watch the flow of the entire piece.
Funding technicalities:
The payment will be for the performing artists, the supporting artists, the musicians, transport charges, and charges for the stay of the various artists involved in the production. An appropriate social media account could be created to promote the curation on different platforms. Posters and handouts could be put up in various organisations and educational institutions. The Museum can promote the work as an upcoming Exhibit in their website and link up with other platforms of museums and galleries to promote the exhibit. Various social media campaigns and fundraisers can be established to gather funding, apart from governmental or ArtsCouncilUK’s funding resources, if necessary. Partnership with the cultural institutions back in the places of origin, and in the diaspora across the UK that are particular to those dances will also have to be established for promoting the venture.
EXECUTION IN THE MUSEUM:
Before we explain the execution of this plan in a museum, the performance needs to be explained.
The performance is in two phases:
The first is the video, that we have submitted as a part of the portfolio: the video follows the order of the trail of colonialism from India to the Middle East (Syria/Jordan belt), to Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and culminates finally in Ghana. The video, thus, traces the route map of a colonial regime in geographically placed physical reality. Therefore, the transitions are different.
For the Museum however, we envision the production with a slight difference.
We have choreographed it with respect to the design of the museum itself.
Thus we will be leading the performance at the Middle east section with Sarah, leading up to the south Asian room with Subhashini. From there, she will lead audience out to the store with Naiara waiting there, and there will be a transition between them at the store space, after which Naiara will lead the audience to the Egyptian room. From the Egyptian room comes the final part of the curation at the African section, after which Mariama will lead them into the open space outside at the Atrium for her bit.
Since the show would feature sections of the different dances in this project, we will create a timetable with specific times during the day for each of the dances in this project to be showed. This is in order to be able to engage the public or audience in these dance sessions more effectively, while making time for redoing the props and getting our technical specifics and musicians ready for the dances. Each one of us will station our musicians/ drummers at specific points while the audience will spread around this setting in order to have a good view of both the dance, and the process accompanying it.
Sarah:
I will begin in the Middle-East section by inviting and encouraging audience to stand in line next to me. They will be holding each other's hands and I will be leading them with basic dabke steps from its historical formation and choreography, while musicians behind us are playing. I will then detach from the audience while they will be encouraged to start clapping along with the music as spectators, and from there the musicians will change the tempo and I will be performing a solo of dabke in its so-called modern form. At this point I will be performing the solo crossing the Middle-Eastern section with the audience following and clapping and into the South Asian section, where Subhashini will be taking over.
Subhashini:
Once Sarah leads the audience out into the South Asian section, dancing and clapping for them to follow, I will encourage the audience to form a circle around me. The circular space is reminiscent of the space for dance in the past as opposed to the proscenium stage used for bharatanatyam today, and I will be performing a Bharatanatyam piece called the Alarippu, with my musicians seated behind me. In the background, I will project the way it was done by devadasis in the early 1900’s, so the audience can see the transformation of the piece. At the end of it, I will be leading the audience out to the store with more non-bharatanatyam movements to show the difference in what is considered “classical” in dancing.
Naiara:
At the store, Subhashini and I will perform together in a way as to highlight the differences between the forms, and the ridiculousness of each of us trying to be like the other, to further the claim of essentialising all the dancers from the East beyond Europe as “oriental” dancers. I will then lead the audience to the Egyptian Quarter, where I will perform Raqs-Shaaqi around the room to an audience that will be spread across the room in whichever space the want to occupy. This is primarily because I will be personally engaging with the audience and making eye contact even as I dance in different directions.
Mark:
As Naiara finishes her oriental dance, she will trigger the transition into Adamu dance by jumping. The dance will start with the groups (groups 2, 3 and 4) of Adamu dancers stationed in the various rooms, that display Maasai costumes items. These rooms will have audiences viewing the collections. Each group (2, 3 and 4) of Adamu dancers in the various rooms will be bejewelled in the Maasai traditional attire and colours although they will be missing some parts of the attire. That is to mean that each group will only have one particular ornament on them, which resembles the Maasai item on display in the room that they are in. One of the groups (group 1) will remain at the open space on the African floor section, which will be the location for the climax and close of the performance. As Naiara Approaches the open space in and triggers the transition the dance group here will sing a short chant that will signal the other groups in the rooms to start dancing. The groups will sing the same tune and dance similar choreographies as they interact with the audiences in their rooms. The group in the open space will stand in a line formation, waiting for the other groups to cue them. The cue will come after 6 repetitions of the chant sang in the collection rooms. Groups 2, 3 and 4 dancers will then change tune and start moving with their audience towards the open space. On reaching the open space, the groups of dancers will adorn the ornaments on the group 1, in that the group will have full costume and regalia for dancing Adamu. Once each of the group 1 dancers has been fully decked, groups 2, 3 and 4 will then move into the audience cue group 1 to start their choreography. Group one will then cue the audience to join in the jump. The other groups of dancers now in the audience will then help them learn the movement and jump with the group 1. This will mark the climax of the performance as the entire room reverberates with the sound of the Masaai.
Oyinkansola:
After the Masaai performance, participants will be called with the Bata drum and chant, as dancers will lead them to the atrium where they will be organized in a circular shape for a communal engagement as it was in the olden days instead of the proscenium stage. They can choose to sit or stand, depending on how the music controls them. The performance will start with Bata ensemble drummers who will play the Yoruba idioms and proverbs. Out of the audience, the male dancers all dressed in the Yoruba adire dashiki and Sokoto will dance into the circular space doing acrobatics. After a while, they will begin to dance in synchronicity to the fast-paced rhythms played by the drummer. Their last movements will make them prostrate to usher the female dancers in. Female dancers will be dressed in different patterns of Adire Iro, Buba and gele. The last movements of the male dancers will welcome a new rhythm of Bata for the female dancers, as they will start singing and dancing simultaneously into the circular space. After they do a first batch of the dance, they pick one male dancer each and then they do the couple dance together to another rhythm that the drummers will play. The couple dance will display some Yoruba traditional stories and myths. Mariama will coordinate her Agbekor performance, and at the end of the two performances, we will both engage in the discussion session with the audience.
Mariama:
I will perform the Agbekor dance with live music/drum and a circular audience in an open space rather than recorded or put on a proscenium stage at the museum. So this will continue in the open space at the Atrium of the Museum. I will be using some of the displayed Ghanaian collections at the museum as props. I will also use this opportunity to explain to the audience the type of props, costumes, history and the stories the songs describe. Afterwards will be discussions about the song meaning, costumes, props and history of the people of Volta region of Ghana and the dance as well. Soon, the other performers will join in, and we will all engage the audience in the open space of the Atrium for questions and answers, queries, and a quick talk on the intentions behind our performances.