Because of the cancelled school day, I’m shifting what we were going to do in class to homework.

First, read the following handout. It reviews chapter eight (plot summary), and then provides an overview of the Indian classical dance tradition of Abhinaya (a form of dance that incorporates careful movement of body with other aspects of emotional acting—this is my shortened, flawed definition). The handout ends with a NYT review of a performance of Abhinaya.

You can view the PDF worksheet by clicking here.

Second, watch the following video clips. The first is a very short ( >2 minutes long) definition of Abhinaya, the “language” that Mudra/shadow’s and the Guppies’ method of communicating in Rushdie’s novel..

Third, watch the first few minutes of the following workshop. In it, Dr. Arpana Ramaswamy gives a lecture about how to perform Abhinaya. You should NOT watch the entire video (unless you are inspired to do so)—just the first five minutes should suffice to give you a sense of what she’s teaching.

Finally, watch this short, five minute performance of Abhinaya. What is the performer trying to communicate? What is happening to this character? What situation is she in? See if you can identify the story behind what is happening in her performance (and in the story behind her performance).

We will discuss it when we return from the snow day.