Exploring Desire At The Gwalior Fort

The sun has set. There is no orange tint in the sky; it바카라�s dark. As the winding road takes one uphill to the majestic and magical Gwalior Fort, the rock-cut Jain monuments come to life. Downhill, the shimmering lights of Gwalior city resemble twinkling stars. The full moon바카라�the eternal object of desire바카라�shines brightly. The elements of the night바카라�the uneasy/calming silence, a dog barking at a distance, the honking of a truck passing by, a lone night bird singing in the dark while returning home바카라�add to the mystical settings. Your heart desires that time freezes so that you can stay in the silent moment just a little longer. Soon, orange and pink lights bring the ramparts of the Gwalior Fort to life. The audience settles. It바카라�s showtime. The dreamy sequence begins. The fort turns into one of the props. The night turns into an element of desire...

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The fourth volume of Panorama Editions, an international art salon created by Sarah Singh바카라�a New Delhi-New York-based award-winning artist and filmmaker, whose multi-dimensional practice features moving images, text, photography, theatrical stagings, set and costume design, painting and drawing바카라�was held in Gwalior on November 16. Like the first three editions바카라�Patiala (2018), Jodhpur (2019) and Jaisalmer (2023)바카라�that were organised at heritage sites/forts, this year, too, the Gwalior Fort바카라�an architectural marvel that is an amalgamation of culture, history, tradition, grandeur, bravery, royalty and magnificence바카라�was chosen as the venue.

The performance titled 바카라�A Streetcart Named Desire바카라�바카라�derived from Tennessee Williams바카라� play 바카라�A Streetcar Named Desire바카라�바카라�featured 48 Indian and international artists who came together to form a collage of performances that explored the theme of different forms of desire바카라�aspiration, longing, to let your presence be felt, for beauty, for passion, to be loved, to break free ... to name a view.

Each artist, through his/her act, depicted some form of desire and throughout the performance, they all shared the stage, even though the performance was divided into three separate acts. The desires (the artists) were sometimes visible, sometimes invisible; sometimes they were visible together and sometimes they were seen in isolation, all guided by a magnificent juxtaposition of light and sound. 바카라�The performance represented life. We all have our individual desires; some are universal and shared and existing at all times, and some are brief and fleeting; while some desires are unexpected,바카라� says Singh.

She first visited Gwalior in 1993 as a solo tourist. A Lonely Planet guidebook led her to the Gwalior Fort where she saw the light and sound show. 바카라�This year, when I was invited to see if the fort could be the venue for the theatrical, I got an opportunity to explore it further. When I saw this particular space at the fort that led to the open ground where a stone-made platform was present, the first visual that came to me as a mirage was a passionate flamenco dancer performing right at the centre of the platform. That moment was the starting point of the artistic journey,바카라� says Singh.

The idea of having desire as the theme occurred intuitively. 바카라�The region is home to so many historical sculptures that explore desire and eroticism, which confirmed my intuition. During my on-site visits to the fort, I realised that its remoteness from the city below made it the perfect spot for young lovers to meet discreetly in the afternoon바카라�where large open windows on the fort바카라�s facade would become the perfect location to hold hands and gaze at each other, far from the judgement of others. This real-life experience again confirmed that desire permeated this ground.바카라�

The epilogue and prologue바카라�titled Echoes Never Die바카라�paid a fitting tribute to the ethos of Gwalior바카라�the birthplace of Tansen. Three Hindustani classical musicians brought the audience into the dreamy world and led them out of it. The epilogue and the prologue had different tonalities and rhythms바카라�the beginning was a soft, dream-like, mysterious, ethereal piece of music. 바카라�The idea was awaken the state of consciousness as a form of desire. For the exiting sequence, I wanted them to create something that had more complexities so that it felt like a hard exit and the dream had now vanished the way some desires disappear,바카라� Singh explains. These musicians were in a commanding position바카라�at the fort balcony바카라�overlooking the whole act. They were never seen, but their music paved the way, and the element of light added to the visualisation.

The performance was divided into three acts바카라�Call Me, Love in the Tropics, and A Street Cart Named Desire, respectively. The act began with a group of students selected from local dance and theatre colleges standing tangled, with their backs to face each other. They gradually untangled and disappeared. 바카라�The act was inspired by a semi-erotic montage on one of the columns in the Saas-Bahu temple at the Gwalior Fort. The act of tangling and untangling represented the desire to be in a communal state as well as the desire of wanting to break free,바카라� explains Singh.

While some desires were permanently present on the stage, some were fleeting. The one woman who unintentionally emerged as the protagonist of the act was Kapoori Bai. She was present from the start to the end바카라�standing still, holding a model of a plane in her hands. The spotlight was on her all the time. She is not a performer; in fact, she is a daily wager who works at a workshop in Gwalior that makes miniature planes. 바카라�When I first met her at the workshop, she was the only woman working there. To me, she represented the desire for aspiration. Her standalone act also represented someone who wants her life to change, but it바카라�s not changing and yet she is holding on to the desire바카라�not letting that dream die,바카라� explains Singh.

Another performer who was present throughout was a woman wearing a yellow saree, sitting on a red sofa, occasionally combing her hair. She sat alone but seemed content, at peace. She represented the twin desires of wanting to be left alone/waiting for a loved one to arrive. This is a universal state in which all of us find ourselves at different life stages.

The highlight of the performance was that local artistes and students got an opportunity to share the stage with renowned performers from 15 different countries. Each of the desires depicted by the international artists was carefully chosen. The flamenco performers depicted the desire for passion. Their imposing presence on the stage represented the passion to be seen/heard. The opera performers were moving meditatively throughout in a defined, looping pattern, depicting both entrapment and creating mesmerising quality. The act represented the eternal quest for the lyricism of beauty.

The five trombonists with their large musical instruments explored the open ground as wanderers바카라�reinventing themselves through the absurd, the melancholic, and the faraway바카라�all profound facets of the state of desire.

The Portuguese artist wore a long trench coat and was the most mysterious character of the act, who appeared and disappeared and then again showed up unexpectedly. He depicted the fleeting nature of some desires바카라�they appear at an unexpected stage in your life, like magic, and disappear unexpectedly. The Austrian mime artists offered a window into a kind of superficial intimacy, most notably when they cast shadows on the fort wall as a form of play.

The kaleidoscopic coexistence of narratives was defined and redefined by the light and sound design team, with occasional live direction by Singh.

The core artistic emphasis relied on an improvisational, reactionary approach. At one memorable moment, a street dog wandered through the staging ground with a nervous curiosity. The spotlight shifted to the wandering dog, momentarily creating a cohesion with the setting as it is typically lived against the constructed artifice of the evening. Light and sound were the key drivers of the audience바카라�s attention바카라�shadow and silence were as significant as light and sound바카라�evoking intriguing suggestions about visible and hidden desires.

Another striking aspect of the performance was the manner in which the artistes were transitioning from one act to the other. A street cart바카라�depicting the desire for accessible entrepreneurship and the possibility of instant gratification바카라�enters the scene and tells you that Act 1 has arrived. Next, an artist paints 바카라�Act 2바카라� on a bamboo wall. Just before the third act, a vibrant street-styled procession full of lively characters from the local theatre school passes by, informing you about the beginning of the third act. During all the transitions, you expect something to change in the setup, but the staging ground remains the complex portrait of colliding desires that don바카라�t seem to ever find a conclusion.

바카라�The entire piece was about breaking the conventions of theatre and evoking narratives rather than telling them. It was about merging cinema and theatre so that the live experience appeared like a film come to life. As an artist, I create the atmosphere, so the viewer is offered an opportunity to interpret and even walk away with questions바카라�to ponder at a macro or micro level where you are in this world,바카라� says Singh.

The performance was based on the twin themes of desire and sustainability. The commemorative costumes, props and staging were made utilising found, recycled and natural materials as much as possible. The artifacts and costumes were later exhibited at the Jai Vilas Palace Museum and were on view at Purana Qila, Delhi, from December 5-10.

After the performance, as the audience was dispersing, we met Kapoori Bai바카라�the lady holding steadfastly onto the plane바카라�and asked her whether given a chance, would she take a flight and go someplace far, far away? She flashed a shy smile and said: 바카라�Sharing the stage with so many artists was not something that I had imagined. This is a big moment for me. The desire to sit in a plane can wait. For now, I am happy making them.바카라� And just like that, her fleeting desire melted with the disappearance of the theatrical setting.