A Trash Dump and A Piece of Heaven
The past three days of our tour have been incredibly sweet and effective. We were set to perform for the communities living around a huge 40 acre industrial trash dump in the city of Salem (south of Chennai) and the local NGO (Speakout!) arranged for us to stay in the deep countryside at a progressive kids-lead school, the Puvidham Rural Development Trust. We stayed in a huge brick dome house that was designed and largely built by hand by the founder/director/semi-saint, Meenakshi. She is a kind and powerful, motherly visionary who had developed some of her ideas while at the Auraville intentional and sustainable community. Twelve years earlier she had purchased barren land and then planted over 3,000 trees (half of which have survived the continuing seven-year drought) and began to build the school with her life partner. The main building had eight small adjoining classrooms (our bedrooms) that opened to the central dome room. The cooking was amazing and we loved staying here.
The next day we traveled two hours on ridiculously bumpy under-construction roads into Salem to the literal edge of the massive 40 acre dump. We had expressed a lot of our security concerns to the host organization and the local contact had arranged for some police and perhaps even the local gang leader to be there to make sure things went smoothly! (we only found about the gang leader after the show when we were told that this particular guy was on stage taking a picture of the gathered crowd and our main character was clowning it up right behind him, getting everyone to laugh without him knowing!!) Seven hundred people, local newspapers and tv crews were there and the show went really well. The local Tree Club, a group that provides free saplings and arranges tree-planting events, hosted us for a great dinner at their beautiful house, where they had a tulsi tree growing in an altar that they honored everyday.
The following day we did a workshop exchange with the children at Puvidham school. We had just realized that an exchange would be more ideal than just giving a workshop and when we suggested it (with two hours advance notice) they loved the idea. For our workshops we helped everyone to make poi balls and taught them some techniques for spinning them, played theater games, and gave an aerial tissue workshop. I had thought that teachers would be facilitating their workshops but it was the kids leading and the teachers were there only for assistance and support. We were amazed. They told us what they would be teaching at their stations and then we went around in small groups to learn from these five, six, and seven year olds! They had a great stick dance called, 'boom-boom-boom-chek', that had each person walking and then hitting and then jumping over each others' swinging sticks. The boy who showed us had mistakenly hit the other boys ankle in the demo and I was sure to jump really high when I played with him. They had another stick dance that the girls taught us, more of a dance than martial art, with two short sticks rhythmically clicking while they danced around each other. They had an elaborate story/dance they taught us, as well as origami, top-spinning and a tamil language station. It was awesome and we had so much fun.
That night we did our environmental show and fire performance for them on their outdoor earthen stage, and they barely stopped laughing and whistling and cheering the entire show. At the end of the show I told them (sometimes translated-sometimes no translation needed) how much we appreciated their vocal expressiveness during our show and how it felt good, and encouraged them to continue to let people know how they are feeling by using their voices and also how much we had loved what they taught us earlier in the day. We made music for them and had a bonfire that night to celebrate the first evening of Ponghal, a yearly harvest festival of burning away the old and welcoming the new sun back into our lives. It couldn't have been more perfect and it was exactly the paradigm interaction we were hoping for. We felt really good knowing that we had made such a strong connection with this community and positive growth for the circus mission. We wished we could have more time (possibly collaborating on a show) with this school and were sad to leave this sweet piece of heaven.
The amazing school design and poi-making & spinning workshop.
Hannah teaches an aerial tissue workshop.
Duck Duck Goose, an international favorite.
Water-balloon tossing.
During their stickdance workshop, Chris and I were jumping pretty high to avoid their swings!
Before we left Puvidham, in the bright south Indian sun, in front of their stage and painted sets.
The next day we traveled two hours on ridiculously bumpy under-construction roads into Salem to the literal edge of the massive 40 acre dump. We had expressed a lot of our security concerns to the host organization and the local contact had arranged for some police and perhaps even the local gang leader to be there to make sure things went smoothly! (we only found about the gang leader after the show when we were told that this particular guy was on stage taking a picture of the gathered crowd and our main character was clowning it up right behind him, getting everyone to laugh without him knowing!!) Seven hundred people, local newspapers and tv crews were there and the show went really well. The local Tree Club, a group that provides free saplings and arranges tree-planting events, hosted us for a great dinner at their beautiful house, where they had a tulsi tree growing in an altar that they honored everyday.
The following day we did a workshop exchange with the children at Puvidham school. We had just realized that an exchange would be more ideal than just giving a workshop and when we suggested it (with two hours advance notice) they loved the idea. For our workshops we helped everyone to make poi balls and taught them some techniques for spinning them, played theater games, and gave an aerial tissue workshop. I had thought that teachers would be facilitating their workshops but it was the kids leading and the teachers were there only for assistance and support. We were amazed. They told us what they would be teaching at their stations and then we went around in small groups to learn from these five, six, and seven year olds! They had a great stick dance called, 'boom-boom-boom-chek', that had each person walking and then hitting and then jumping over each others' swinging sticks. The boy who showed us had mistakenly hit the other boys ankle in the demo and I was sure to jump really high when I played with him. They had another stick dance that the girls taught us, more of a dance than martial art, with two short sticks rhythmically clicking while they danced around each other. They had an elaborate story/dance they taught us, as well as origami, top-spinning and a tamil language station. It was awesome and we had so much fun.
That night we did our environmental show and fire performance for them on their outdoor earthen stage, and they barely stopped laughing and whistling and cheering the entire show. At the end of the show I told them (sometimes translated-sometimes no translation needed) how much we appreciated their vocal expressiveness during our show and how it felt good, and encouraged them to continue to let people know how they are feeling by using their voices and also how much we had loved what they taught us earlier in the day. We made music for them and had a bonfire that night to celebrate the first evening of Ponghal, a yearly harvest festival of burning away the old and welcoming the new sun back into our lives. It couldn't have been more perfect and it was exactly the paradigm interaction we were hoping for. We felt really good knowing that we had made such a strong connection with this community and positive growth for the circus mission. We wished we could have more time (possibly collaborating on a show) with this school and were sad to leave this sweet piece of heaven.
The amazing school design and poi-making & spinning workshop.
Hannah teaches an aerial tissue workshop.
Duck Duck Goose, an international favorite.
Water-balloon tossing.
During their stickdance workshop, Chris and I were jumping pretty high to avoid their swings!
Before we left Puvidham, in the bright south Indian sun, in front of their stage and painted sets.
darren
mahalo for sharing!
amazing this life of a traveler/performer...!
love it!
u coming home for a while yeah???
andrea
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WOW Darren!!!
Here I sit in my insulated home in the midwest - not too far from Lake Michigan. Reading all your blogs I feel transported to India - with you - experiencing the sights and sounds, the pleasures and fears. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and terrific pictures! As always, you bring more richness and love to my life.
I am deeply aware of your love and desire to be the difference that turns people on to the gift of life and to work together to take care of it - ourselves, each other, our land, sky and water - to make friends all over the world and experience the gift of our diversity and the power of our unity. I love you sooo much!! Keep, keep in on and I'll see you on that dance floor - or ground that is.
Ahui Ho Precious Brother!
Sistah Paula xoxox
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Aloha Darren,
Well far out. You have always impressed me as being heavy dude but cool, too cool and thanks man... I have never read a blog before your email directed me to you. I have only a moment as I am designing and directing a sustainable farm project in northern Thailand and have a crew waiting me. I look forward to reading past your last entry when computer access permits, gotta go.
Mahalo, for your professionalism and friendship. Peace, Jofoto.
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