Abstract
This book chapter analyzes and chronicles the process of making “the sins of such wonderful flesh,” a performance work by the Post Natyam Collective that choreographs a conflicted relationship to a queer ancestor while creatively rerouting the male, heteronormative, and Orientalist gaze. Working with abhinaya (South Asian modes of expression), video projections, and archival images and reviews, the work and its underlying process enact many forms of queering and crossing, queering the gaze and an Orientalist historical archive while dynamically crossing between past and present and across the borders of nation, race, and gender.
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Notes
- 1.
For more on the German notion of quer, see Hark (2001) and Sedgwick in Edwards (2009, p. 62). Interestingly, in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent demonstrations against the measures to contain the pandemic (the so-called ‘Corona Protests’) have been organized by an initiative that adopted the idea of quer in the sense of going against the grain: Querderken-711 (https://querdenken-711.de/).
- 2.
Cynthia originally came across Maud Allan during another Post Natyam Collective process called Cabaret Travels, which examined translations of cabaret across South Asia, Europe, and the United States with Delhi-based director Aditee Biswas.
- 3.
The dance-for-camera Maud Allan study is viewable here: https://vimeo.com/108827663.
- 4.
For more on Question Formulation Technique, please see https://rightquestion.org/education/.
- 5.
This section draws heavily on Cynthia Ling Lee’s blogpost, “Real Life or Fake News? Glimpses into Maud Allan’s Tabloid-like Life.” Posted on 12 September 2018 on https://postnatyam.blogspot.com/2018/09/real-life-or-fake-news-glimpses-into.html (last accessed 9 September 2019). For more on Allan’s biography, see Cherniavsky (1983a, 1983b, 1984, 1985, 1986) and Allan (1908); for dance historical analyses, see Koritz (1994), Walkowitz (2003), and Malnig (2012); and for more on the libel trial, see Bland (1998) and Hoare (1998).
- 6.
See also Lee (2019).
- 7.
- 8.
See also Chatterjee (2019).
- 9.
See also Lee (2019).
- 10.
Another version of “Misirlou” is used for the ending section of the work: Dick Dale’s frenetic surf-guitar arrangement, made famous by the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, is used to accompany a wild campy combination of queer exorcism and girl-on-girl sex. We are thankful for our colleague Meiver de la Cruz’s suggestion to use “Misirlou,” which she described as the most re-recorded and abused Orientalist piece…originally a Greek song about an Egyptian girl who is ‘sweet’” (19 February 2019). https://www.facebook.com/cynthialinglee/posts/10156484401968052.
- 11.
Nikhil Mandalaparthy here refers to: Srividya. “Ninda Stuti.” RadioWeb Carnatic. RadioWeb. 30 January 2016. RadioWeb Carnatic. Web.
- 12.
Clair Rowden summarizes the uncertainty around the music that accompanied The Vision of Salomé: she states that Allan is widely believed to have danced to Remy’s arrangement of Strauss’ Dance of the Seven Veils from his opera, Salomé, but that some sources suggest she may have danced to original music by Remy (Rowden 2013, p. 75). Regardless, it is unquestionable that Allan’s performance, Strauss’ opera, and Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé were closely associated in the public imagination of the time.
- 13.
The voiceover is slightly edited from the original review. See Hoare (1998, p. 74) for the original review.
- 14.
A traditional form of tie-dye from India.
- 15.
The text spoken by Cynthia in this section of the piece is taken from Alfred Butt’s publicity text for Vision of Salomé which we originally used in our 2014 Maud Allan Studies (see Buonaventura 2004, p. 34).
- 16.
The title of the piece, “the sins of such wonderful flesh,” is a quote adopted from the publicity material narrated here (Butt, as quoted by Buonaventura 2004, p. 34).
- 17.
Alapadma is translated as the fully bloomed lotus, but as a hand gesture can refer to a multitude of abstracted meanings.
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Chatterjee, S., Lee, C.L., Moorty, S. (2021). Queerings and Crossings: The Post Natyam Collective’s “The Sins of Such Wonderful Flesh”. In: Rosenberg, T., D'Urso, S., Winget, A.R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69555-2_19
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