4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

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rasaesthetics
with them, to answer the “how” questions. Qualitative changes can be
made by applying the idea of rasa to a character, a scene, even an entire
play. At times it is useful to think of rasa as a kind of tonality, or rhythm
of performance, which can be modulated as the pitch/key or the
tempo/rhythm of a piece of music can be modulated.
One of the things I have discovered in working with the Rasaboxes is
that, contrary to the training we have inherited from Stanislavsky, emotion,
when fully played out through the body, can become action. Also, I
have learned from this process that onstage, as in life, emotion is not
necessarily psycho-“logical” in the simplistic sense that we often
associate with realistic acting. In working on a scene or a monologue in
the Rasaboxes, one discovers that often the least “logical” emotion is
the one that makes the scene the most interesting. Sometimes, one
discovers new layers of emotion; a scene played with laughter on the
surface may have rage lurking beneath. The rasas can also serve as a
kind of emotional baseline for character. A Blanche Dubois played with
karuna (grief and compassion) as her baseline would be very different
than a Blanche played with raudra (rage) or bhayanaka (fear) as the
baseline. She would have a different breath, a different voice, a different
body, and these details of her characterization would affect the tone of
the entire character interpretation.
Now we are beginning to explore new material in the Rasaboxes.
Composer/choreographer and East Coast Artists associate Liz Claire is
working with music for a piece we are making about Russian poet
Maria Tsvetaeva. The rich sounds and rhythms of Claire’s violin
sounding bhayanaka or karuna expand my work as a performer in those
emotional spaces – pushing my body and voice into new territory, and
multiplying the textural layers of the piece. Here, rasa becomes a terrain
for dialogue between actor and musician, blurring the boundaries of
our roles and the techniques available to us.
In my work as a movement analyst, I have also begun to explore the
application of Laban ideas about movement to performers’ work in the
Rasaboxes. This detailed physical work can refine the body’s work of
emotional expression, challenging the performer to find Light, Quick
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