7 May: Second Group Meeting - WOMEN ONLY

SECOND GROUP MEETING - NOTES 

Present: Niranjani, Shibani, Mallika, Kriti, Reetu, Aanchal, Swati, Shena G

Thoughts and discussion, in no particular order: 

1. WHY SO FEW MEN ????? We’d like to see more men involved.
2. We need to structure our endings – [ M : rather than hang around ‘shadily’] – the performers must thank their audience verbally and invite them to interact – to let them know that we are staying around to talk to them
3. There are levels/methods of interaction with audience
• Not much – more performance oriented
• Incorporating interaction within the activity. K: Requires the performers to be keenly aware, to make eye contact with audience members, to be sensitive, to allow for change and put that back into the exercise
• Actively inviting audience participation – either during or after the activity; can be verbal or non-verbal
• Speaking with audience members after the activity
4. We decided to incorporate one particular topic or ‘theme’ strand into some of our Dos : Women and Public Spaces
5. We decided to include two ways in which we’d like to consciously grow
• SAME PLACE, DIFFERENT DO – Pick a place and do Dos there consistently, at regular intervals, at same time of day each time. The idea would be to allow the regularity to shape the expectations of what that place can offer – and to give (mostly) the same people a chance to experience a Do, rather than ‘hitting’ random people each time. We would be curious to see how the consistency and expectation changes people’s reactions, and how it affects the space. We would like TDWK to become part of the landscape of that place. (flag by N “be careful we don’t become stagnant” / flag by K “be careful we don’t become public disturbance”) – We thought Sarojini Nagar – esp near the vegetable market – might be a good choice of venue for this
• SAME DO, DIFFERENT PLACE – We take the same DO to different places – and document the differences (to a large extent this is what we have been doing, esp with the mirror exercise)
6. M IDEA! – Invite Jana Natya Manch to come do their Cricket Match – and teach us how to do it
7. We MUST find out what the laws are re. public performances or ‘play’ such as TDWK (SG to do) [nb: it’s not a performance, it’s ‘khel’]
8. However, important to consider – SW : if we’re just ‘playing’ in public, then why take either permission or give information to the police? – If our agenda is to say that we believe that people can and should play anywhere in their own city, then we must act accordingly
9. Also, interestingly – we can take a ‘play’ and do it repeatedly, until that play itself becomes reality (e.g. the Women Walk). We can explore this idea for our ‘Women and Public Spaces’ strand
10. We definitely feel the need for quarterly rehearsal meetings – in which we rehearse new material and hone old material. i.e. work on our ‘repertoire’. We need to have a fixed date for this – which we stick to.
11. Before doing any Do, we must ask WHAT and WHY - specific to the particular activity.
12. When answering WHAT and WHY, categories such as Rehearsed / Unrehearsed; Degree and method of audience inclusion; Theme based or not; the nature of the Space, use of props or not;  etc. should be articulated
13. PROPS – the use of props was discussed. While some felt that maybe we should introduce props a little later, others felt that they can be powerful performance elements that would add to the experience. It was decided to try a few Dos with Props, to see whether and how they affect the Do. Looking for volunteers to lead this activity.
14. RHYTHM – we definitely want to include the use of Rhythm (perhaps using local props) as the mainstay of some of the Dos – powerful method of inclusion. We look forward to volunteers to lead such a Do.
15. Very important – A: don’t lose the purity and innocence of TDWK / JOY and FUN are important points of entry for all that we do, and we must not lose sight of that at any point. / Can be as simple as PLAY and exchange of ENERGY.
16. Every Do MUST exist with the openness of the possibility of interaction, in any form, with audience. This is part of our Rule Book.