Holy Cow(s!- Redux (2019)
Date(s)
April 26-27, 2019, CFA Theater, Wesleyan University, Connecticut
and
May 11 and 12, 2019 in New York City as part of La MaMa Moves! Festival.
About
Holy Cow(s)! redux (2019) is an ensemble work addressing Hari Krishnan's personal politics with cultural appropriation and his response to an offensive comment by Mark Morris in 2015 at the Lincoln Center.
“Cultural appropriation is just called culture…airport gift shopping as I like to call it.”
-Mark Morris.
To which Hari responded, “I salute you with a finger, Mark Morris!”
"The work is based on my lived life experiences in North America and the kinds assumptions and stereotypes people have projected upon me as both as a person of color and an Indian dancer. The choreography is as a kind of pseudo-autobiographical protest:
“I don’t worship cows. I love burgers and poutine.
To me, Yoga is not ‘mystical heaven’. It’s just a fun circus.
Sometimes a “hand gesture” could just be screwing in a light bulb!
My red dots are an homage to iconoclastic artist Yayoi Kusama.
Indian dance bells function the same way that the Rockettes’ Christmas bells do.
I am more than just an East/West paradigm. I live my politics through my art. Despite coming from a patriarchal culture, I am a practicing feminist. I would choose a Madam President over a twitter-troll any day! When ‘a bull runs amok in a china shop’, we must “resist and persist”.
Holy Cow(s)! redux is a tongues-in-many-cheeks caricature remix, recycling worn-out culture-specific taboos of gender, identity, sexuality and cultural (mis)appropriation via a global dance lens. I choose to escape my ‘stereotype straight-jacket’, to laugh at myself with my audience. I am free.”
Credits
Choreography: Hari Krishnan
Dancers: Paul Charbonneau, Eury German, Priyanka Krishnan, Roney Lewis and Xi Yi Choreography of Hollywood via Kollywood via Hollywood North: Seán Curran (NYC) and Hari Krishnan
Original Music Composition: Niraj Chag
Lighting Design: John Carr
Costume Design: Rex (Rajavairan Rajendran)
Rehearsal Director: Roney Lewis
Premiere (full-length): Harbourfront Centre Theatre, Toronto, March 2017
