Experiments With Orissi Dance Language
Ratna’s
experimental work began in 1981 when she choreographed a dance to Northwest
poet Lonny Kaneko’s Sukiyaki Mama and performed
it with jazz drumming accompaniment in the Nippon Kan Theater of Seattle,
Washington. Since then, she has also choreographed and performed with
poetry readings by Marvin Bell and Robert Bly. In 1988,
Ratna choreographed and performed a Sundanese poem, sung by Indonesian
musicians, in Bandung, Indonesia. 1990 saw her in Latvia where she
choreographed and performed portions of the epic, Lacplesis,
in Liepaja. In 1996, Ratna did seven performances of a traditional
Orissi dance number, Moksa, with
taiko drumming in the Kansai area in Japan. She also choreographed a piece
that told the story of the rabbit in the moon, sung in Japanese.
In 1997, Ratna choreographed scenes from the Gita Govinda with Western music (in conjunction with modern dancers, performed for On the Boards on April 24, 25, and 26, 1997). Subsequent new works for spring production in 1997 at The Evergreen State College in Olympia as well as The Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, included Karna Kunti (Dr. Tagore’s lyric, “Karna Kunti Samvad,” rendered in classical Orissi music, dealing with issues of an abandoned child confronting his mother), Mahabharata War with Sundanese music, and Tears of Rahwana (from the Ramayana to Sundanese gamelan music), dealing with the pain of a war widow. This work was in conjunction with Beijing Opera choreographer from China, Cao Chen, who played the role of Rahwana. Ratna worked on a production about female victims of war and ethnic cleansing with two faculty from The Evergreen State College: Gail Tremblay, a Native American visual artist, and Ruth Hayes, an animation specialist. The performance, Resistance, took place in May 1999 to high acclaim. In June 2002, The American was showcased as a part of Dance Responses to September 11. Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott, from Resistance, was rechoreographed and expanded to tour the Tacoma and Bethel school districts in February 2003. For the State of Washington's Martin Luther King Day celebration, staged for the Washington Center for the Performing Arts (January, 2004), Ratna choreographed Broken Dreams, which was later expanded for a new series of Resistance dances (April 2004).
