What I understand from reading the website and watching the video performance is this dance is about her mother’s experience in a forced migration back in China during the Cold War. There were moments when she was not allowed to cry nor make noise; the tension when the rescue plane came; the moment she had to jump to the snow. The background noise somehow similar to the sound of plane engine from afar, and that adds even more vivid atmosphere about the whole chaos in the neighborhood. Personal narrative has helped me understand the language of the movements, hence gives meaning to the whole artwork. For e.g. when the mother was told ‘not to make any noise’, her lower arm ‘rubbed’ the mouth and the head shakes a ‘no’. The question that I want to ask is: why did you use flour? What does it represent?
What I understand is in this performance, Angeline tried to show how she lives her life without her father: she lives like her father was present even though he is actually absent. The empty male clothing she put on the floor, I think, is the ‘father’, whose possessions were in the house but he himself was not there. Angeline even bowed to the direction of where the clothing is, like bowing out of respect to her father. Then, activities like rolling the bamboo and taking the wooden bowl were like parts of chores Angeline did in his father absence and presence. The sound of bamboo leaves rubbing each other gives the impression and atmosphere of a house surrounded by bamboo. Probably, this is a house in China in the past, when the country was still bamboo forest. The personal narrative, again, gives meaning to the whole art, and make it personal. The question is, why is it titled “Bamboo Curtain”?
The Dream Journals
18/2/2016 The Rehearsal
- 7-8 of us, with fellow friends.
- An acting class, a rehearsal for the upcoming musical
- One of the friends, hardly came to the rehearsal in real life, but he was present in my dream’s rehearsal.
- I was wearing white tee
This dream was dreamed on the day I had the acting rehearsal. I brought it to my dream with additional people.
20/2/2016 A Good Dream
- I laughed
- I had a meal with about 3 persons, but talked only to one person.
- It was bright, a golden hour, I guess.
- The sunset ray shined on me
- After that, we rode on something, I think it’s a bicycle.
The Mummy
- Hiding under the bed
- Being chased by mummies
- Orange wall
- Pink and green bedsheet
- Cannot cry, just scared
- The zombies/ mummy didn’t know I was under the bed.
This dream was a childhood dream that I still remember until now, probably because this is horrifying for a 7 years old girl and I dreamed it after watching The Mummy.
Zechariah
- A deceased friend of mine appeared in my dream, two weeks after his ‘departure’
- It was dark, then a light lightened the view of my side
- I saw a big tree, which looked easy for us to climb
He said, ‘be Zechariah, Feli.’
I asked, ‘why? is it for a play?’
He answered, ‘just be Zechariah.’
- And I woke up.
Yeap, the friend of mine passed away that year.
My Dance
Something is Coming
What’s Coming?! from Feliciana Natali on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/156561789
So, in this piece, I am trying to convey the feeling of shocked and afraid because I hear something is coming. I am jolted awake as I hear the voice, but I don’t know where I am. I was asleep but when I wake up, I’m inside a ‘box’. I’m trying to get out of that ‘box’ but I can’t. Inspired from my Mummy dream, the position of my dance is at low level, just like as I am under a bed. Then, the terrifying thing which is approaching might be mummies or zombies as well. I somehow laying flat on the ground at the end of the choreography, because suddenly the ‘box’ shakes and I slip from my sitting position. For the sound effect, I use Inception’s sound effect.
Monkey at The Rehearsal
Dream Journal 2 from Feliciana Natali on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/156584627
This is inspired from The Rehearsal dream journal. So, in this story, the acting rehearsal takes place in a new location. I am so amazed and want to explore, touch, feel, everything I see there. However, the coach scolds me for being not ready for warming up. So, I start doing the facial exercises (just like the icons I drew above), but I become bored and start disturbing my other friends as well as touching the stuffs at the new location. My coach saw me being mischievous, and she scolds me. And I frown, afraid and sad. Here, I want to portray my mischievous side, and create a fun choreography with fun sound. I use Doraemon instrumental soundtrack.
