My body & BRAIN is tangled!!!

Well, the farewell ended and the canadians have left.... cant think that there would be no more of those dancing sessions, no more of the harmonica playing and no more of the bus dances!!! God, hard to imgine but that's truth...right??

Well this workshop with the canadians made my brain (the small little one that I have) go round and round and I dont know what!!! I have spent hours thinking about the workshop and about the process but cudn't get any answer. I think what made me so restless was the fact that I didnt know what I was doing!!! Many of my friends told me to just wait and experience this whole workshop but probably, this is the way I am, I like to know wat I am doing and why!!! I tried my level best not to get any hopes or expectations from my past and which to an extent I succeeded in doing...but then why wasnt I having that internal happiness or satisfaction?Dont tell me that I have become so rigid (here come's the self - doubt)!!! Well I got a part of my answer in the reflection session we had in Hoskote... Sean made me realise what I was thinking about... "I wanted the process to empower us more", as Sean put it. Thanks Sean. Along with that I just wondered if those movements of water (which I myself did) made any sense, if not to others, but atleast to me! I am all too messed up (as you can see) and I DONT LIKE THAT!

Its not that I havn't gained anything from this workshop... Now I know how it is to have 10 fingers, 2 hands, 2 legs etc, how body theatre is important.... but....there still remains that emptiness within me which probably I will understand in a few days... (atleast I hope so)
But in all, I think the experience was great, it made my body and my BRAIN (especially) work a lot...and I swear it did!!!!

Kiss Good Bye !

The last Day ..

Today was the last day to end our Kannada Canada Project with a farewell party in Birds park.
Organised by us ... He he. We started off with formal speeches by the staff members and went into the culturals with yaroon song. By now it was Canadians turn who sang sweet songs which had lyrics about us... It was so damn cozy. Then it was Kajre dance done by the female category of street theatre.
During supper every body danced to the tune of Rajan sir music and everybody had a blast. It all ended kissing good byes to each other.
From Drishti we wish you guys .. safe journey and hope to keep in touch with you guys.

Three Cheers to Canadians..
Hip Hip ..hurray..Hip Hip ..hurray..Hip Hip ..hurray..

Please Note: Drishti members ..kindly post your views into your blog and keep this site alive.

Photos of Kannada Canada Performance

Theatre in the Basketball Court! : A Different Game
Posted by centreforsocialaction on December 21st, 2006
Thu,21 Dec: You surely missed it… if you weren’t present at the Christ College basketball court when the CSA street theatre team Drishti, in collaboration with a theatre team from Montreal (Canada) enacted a series of plays in front of a huge student audience!
The play which dealt with human rights was enacted in 2 parts:1. A series of topics which included ‘respect for women’, ‘the need to wear helmets’, ‘smoking’, and ‘alcohol’ through a multi-lingual play by Drishti;2. The Biblical story of Adam and Eve interpreted in a contemporary context, with a focus on the plight of women, by a combined group of Drishti and the Montreal team. It talked about the pressure mounted upon women in today’s world.
The enactment was true to the street theatre genre and involved a lot of expressing of ideas through body movement. To add to the fun, they used instruments like a flute, harmonica and drums. And guess how many people turned up at the basketball court to watch it?
350 souls! (including teachers and the watchmen)
The aim of the play besides promoting awareness on Human rights, was to provide a platform for a Drishti - Montreal team joint production, as well as performing for the students in college who were on their last working day of the month, before the Christmas vacations! (By the way, the college re-opens on January 2nd). Both the theatre teams have been undergoing a joint training programme in the college for the past 2 weeks which will culminate on the 28th of this month.
To know more about them, check out their blogs:
Drishti : www. streettheatre.blogspot.com
Montreal team: www. rightshere.blogspot.com


Script for the Street Play

All the members sing "Surangani" and start the formation of the circle. As soon as the circle is completed, the members start the play by singing the birdy song and then sing the "london bridge" song and create the formation for the smoking scene.

Scene I

All the members of the group hum the bond music and move towards Actor 1 who is busy smoking. They stop, stare and then copy actor 1. Then all the members start choking, suffocating and then finally die! Actor 1 watches all this, gets tensed, throws the cigarette. CHORUS: "Smoke up, smoke your life. Smoke up, smoke up your life" and form a circle.

Scene II

All the members in the circle start making sounds of various vehicles, horns,etc. Actor 1 and 2 start moving around the circle (as in driving a two wheeler). They come and hault in the middle of the circle. Actor 1 and all the members: Kya aap traffic rules follow karte hain? Kya aap helmet pehnte hain? Aap rules kyun nahi follow karte hain? (musical) Actor 2: Hello? Helmet kaun pehnta hai? Mera hairstyle bigadd jayega! CHORUS:(except Actor 2): Its coming! Its coming! Its coming! Bird shit comes and falls on Actor 2 (embarrasing and disgusting look) CHORUS: Sound of crow! CHORUS (in the middle in a smaller circle) : "Helmet hain jahaan, suraksha hai wahaan! Helmet!!! (Lifebouy jingle) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and come back into a circle. Humming of the "london bridge" song.

Scene III

Actor 1 is busy driving a two wheeler (in the middle of the circle) Actor 2 : Oye.... helmet kidhar hai? Headlight bhi nahi hai... Fine lage ga... 300 rupees!!! Actor 1: (shocked) 300 rupees??? Nahi saab... I'll give you Rs 50!! Actor 2: (surprised) Rs 50??? Gaadi bhi chori ka lagta hai!! Actor 1: Saab saab... 100 rupees dega saab!! Actor 2: 100 rupees??(happy)... chal de de.. Actor 2 takes the money and leaves. Actor 1 continues driving. Actor 1: (sarcasm) Arre... yeh sab toh aise hee hai!!! CHORUS: Na biwi na bachcha, na baap bada na bhaiya... (Bluffmaster).. ...STOP!! Actor 3 (from the circle) : Where's your liscence? ( Kannada) Actor 4 ( '' " ) : Where's your headlight? (Telugu) Actor 5 ( " " ) : Why did you break the traffic light? ( Hindi) Actor 6 ( " " ) : Where is your RC book? ( Malayalam) Actor 7 (coming near Actor 1) : And above all why did you bribe him? CHORUS: (moving in a circle) Who's corrupt? You or them?(3) Actor 1 : Corruption is not there, it is here. CHORUS: Act now! (3) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and form the circle. Everybody sings "london bridge" and create the formation for the drinking scene

Scene IV

CHORUS:(everybody in a small circle in the middle facing outside) Yeh jo mohabbat hai...yeh unka hai kaam... (all members sing this as if they are drunk) Actor 1 steps out of the circle and moves around Actor 2: (approaches Actor 1) Drink drink... Its good! Actor 1: (takes a sip and respondes) Hey, this is good..very good!.... I'm so lonely, I have nobody.... (sings) Actor 1 comes to the middle and then as she sings, the rest of the members form a circle around her. CHORUS: Drink, drink, drink, drink.... Actor 1 starts to choke and falls to the ground. All the other members surround her and mock at her. Actor 1 : Drinking thrills, but kills! CHORUS: Drinking thrills. but kills! (3) All the members sing the birdy song (with actions) and settle down for the women harrasment scene.

Scene V

All the members are a part of the circle, except Actor 1 (male) and Actor 2 (female) who are supposedly standing in a bus! CHORUS: Aashiq banaya, aashiq banaya.........(sounds of the break) When the chorus is singing the song, Actor 1 is eve -teasing Actor 2. When the sound of the breaks is heard, Actor 1 (almost) falls on Actor 2. Actor 2 responds with a slap! CHORUS: One tight slap! (2) Actor 2 : Dont you have a mother or a sister? (Hindi) Actor 3 : in Kannada Actor 4 : in Malayalam Actor 5 : in English CHORUS : Respect Women! (3) All the members do the birdy dance (with actions) and form a circle.

Scene VI

CHORUS : (Keeps singing) Hey, Hey... What's this?? Actor 1 : Stop smoking! (coming to the middle of the circle)

CHORUS Actor 2: Wear your helmet! ('' '')

CHORUS Actor 3: Who's corrupt? ('' ")

CHORUS Actor 4: Drinking kills! ('' '')

CHORUS Actor 5: Respect Women! ('' '')

All the members come into the middle of the circle and bow!!!

Kannada -Canada Project Experience!

For me ... the whole workshop has been challenging and frustrating in spite of being open to ideas of new forms of theatre and stuff....but still come on guys..give me a break...its street theatre ya.. Not that I have done a Ph D thesis on Street theatre.
There are some essentials for any form of theatre and Street theatre has its own and I feel very sad when people neglect that aspect of it. I also discovered how this work has made me realize why our body is so important and useful in street theatre.

I like to work planning things and knowing things in what I am indulging into but this experience has not given me proper sleep at times. Having a sense of ambiguity of things is fine but for long...Hell no..

The culture aspect has been a key factor according to me during this training and I find it difficult to understand Canadian way of thinking. Obviously any individual got to respect other culture and views but this seems a complex process for me to under go..

On our first performance...the element of abstraction for a street play is NOT a good idea. My intuitions turned out to be right to a great extent. I really feel they could learn Kannada and put up a play in Kannada no matter how small or pathetic it turns out. I feel it is not too late... better be late than never..... Street theatre is not about coaching about it but getting into the groom of it and get the feel on ground reality.. Too preachy. Sorry. Its just the way I interpret my Indian system of working..
I hope this workshop broadens my idea of theatre in general and I get to see the Canadians teaching us some stuff .... Which still lies a mystery.. Expectations..Expectations..Sucks big time..

Looking forward for the up coming challenges..

Rock and Roll...

Kannada Canada Team

All the way from Montreal, CANADA

Finally the much awaited programme for street theatre "Drishti" has started. The montreal group has arrived at Christ College.

The group is here to perform a street play on human rights and also have exchange of ideas in connection with theatre. The group is vibrant for sure and we are looking forward to interact with these guys more coz I have heard canadians are much more nice people than Americans..he he..

We have our first performance on 21 st , Dec 2006 in college campus.

Welcome to watch us... CULMINATION OF CULTURES... !

Bengalooru Habba 2006

Drishti kicked off performing street plays for Bengalooru Habba (http://www.eventsbangalore.net/2006/12/01/bengalooru-bangalore-habba-2006/) festival from Dec 3, 2006 till 7th of Dec 2006.

It was an amazing experience for both English and Kannada teams which together managed to put up nearly 30 performances.
The Kannada team performed creating awareness on Hiv/AIDS across the city and conveyed the message meaningfully to different target audiences.

The English team had come up with a kichdi with a kick in it having themes such as adverse effects of smoking, alcohol, drugs and general civic issues like wear your helmet, stop littering etc.
I personally enjoyed this festival with colours on our faces and the enthusiasiam which I could see among my team mates. Almost seems like they have become professional theatre team. Just Kidding...