13.6.10

Feet in a trance

“How can we know the dancer from the dance?” – W.B.Yeats

There are some marvelous moments when even the dance cannot be separated from the viewers. It isn’t merely about watching but partaking.

This one is from one of my favourite Satyajit Ray films where you demarcate debauchery and good taste at your own peril. This is what life is about – chandeliers that light up the room or crash as glass shards to pierce souls.

Roshan Kumari in 'Jalsaghar'

8 comments:

  1. FV, Thanks for the clip, was nice to behold the nifty footwork and for the recommendation on this S.Ray movie (have seen others but not this one).

    BTW, is she doing Kathak (looks like it to me) or is it a mixture of various dance styles?

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  2. Thanks, Al...do watch the film.

    It is kathak and it is quite wonderful how Ray has used a lot of N.Indian music/ambience into the movie.

    Roshan Kumari was one of the better-known dancers.

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  3. Thanks, but it ain't me :)

    Come on, Mark, fess up on the masks thing. I made an effort to understand!

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  4. Well, it ain't me either. :)

    There. The masks are off.

    Of course, if it ain't you, and it ain't me . . . AI??? :D

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  5. Hi mstaab/FV,

    Don't know if I think much of "V" or his methods in "V for Vendetta". I would agree that the book is very cool storywise with the setting in fascist England right about now (circa 2010 -- book was written/drawn in 1985), which is how the story starts...but don't want to give away too much of the story in case anyone wants to read it.

    The "vendetta" part in the title comes from the fact that this guy behind a mask used to be a prisoner who was experimented on by "scientists" (very similar to Nazi Germany), I would wager the movie did not bother to go in this direction, hence felt justified just calling it "V".

    I would rather see Roshan Kumari dance :-)

    Speaking of masks, this cat in a mask, OTOH, is worthy of emulation... :-)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckethead

    PS: as a wise person used to say, "masks shmasks, let's get something to eat".

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  6. Mstaab & Al:

    You guys know so much about so much, it makes me feel Very knowledgeable. There, we got a V.

    Re. Buckethead, sounds like Lady GaGa. Haven't heard the music, though.

    Of course, Al will disagree, but as a wise woman says, if you've got no bread you won't have to think of which side to butter (TM) :)

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  7. FV:"Al will disagree, but as a wise woman says, if you've got no bread you won't have to think of which side to butter (TM) "

    No doubt. I bow to the wise woman and her wisdom :-)


    "Re. Buckethead, sounds like Lady GaGa. Haven't heard the music, though."

    Farzana,


    Buckethead and his friends are pretty non-standard in their attitude, but one important difference compared to Lady Gaga is that Buckethead does not speak much, if at all. He just follows the dictum "shut up and play yer guitar". This is the song "Buckethead" written in his honor by his collaborators in Col. Claypool's bucket of Bernie's brains (Bandmembers: Claypool, Bernie, Brains, and Buckethead)

    Buckethead:

    He didn't like to jostle in the light
    Finding it much soother in the night
    With his face as pale as pancakes
    And his posture in rebellion with his height

    He was raised to respect Father he was loving to his Ma
    Being kind to all the children and the animals he saw
    In his youth he looked at Jacko with gleaming admiration
    Moonwalking through the gardens of his Disneyland Vacation

    Then he took a pallid mask and he glued it to his face
    And it gave him the temerity to join the human race
    He stood like great Ulysses with guitar in his hand
    Pledging to deflate the cynical that plague the glory land

    Buckethead

    And the people came to know him as a man of noble cause
    Ignoring eccentricities and interactive flaws
    The ones that knew him best were the ones that
    called him kind
    Clueless to the depth of his complicated mind

    But when he takes a pallid mask and he glues it to his face
    It gives him the temerity to join the human race
    Standing up like great Ulysses with
    guitar in his hand
    Pledging to deflate the cynical
    that plague the glory land

    Buckethead

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