India Wrap up

November 16, 2009

We traveled to the high Himalaya last week to perform and create new site specific dances. First stop was Woodstock school, where we performed for the innauguration of the school's new gym and to celebrate its outdoor programming. The performance was warmly received by the community. Next we traveled to the Nanda Devi region where we spent a week making and filming dances on boulders and in meadows with spectacular veiws of the snowy high mountains as their majestic setting.

Filmaker Logan Scheider used a  16 mm camera to capture the dances while Todd Laby shot high definition video and Atossa Soltani shot stills of the work. The dancers worked tirelessly to build dances in five locations working collaboratively with director Rudolph. The dancers, Heather Baer, Melecio Estrella, Anje Lockhart, Damara Ganley, Rachael Lincoln, Amelia Rudolph and Mark Stuver managed freezing temperatures, uneven terrain and tough cliff dancing with good style and grace. This was helped along by rigger Stephen Schneider and operations manager Thomas Cavanagh who woke early and worked in tricky terrain to create safe envrionments for the dancers.

Along with their own support staff, the company was helped by the wonderful and tireless staff of the Mountain Shepherds, an ecotourisn guide service specializing in the region around Nanda Devi. Sunil Kainthola, the coordinator of the Mountain Shepherds, along with his staff of eight, took care of housing, tents, logistics and travel, and Raja the cook made outstanding meals at 3,500 meters. The Mountain Shepherd group is unigue in several ways. They are actively involved in issues of livelihood in the Nanda Devi biosphere, their staff collectively owns the company and they actively employ and train women. The Bandaloop support team included three women.
 
The central Himalaya, knows as the Garwhal, is an amazing location for adventure travel and ecotourism. The geology, fauna, flora and local community life are both beautfiul and fascinating. The Bhotia people, who live near Joshimat, lead a life that most foreigners would not believe still exists today. Within their community for example, "new comers" are those that have been there less than 150 years.

Project Bandaloop has plans to create a short film with the footage from Nanda Devi that celebrates the power and vulnerability of this unique mountain region. This trip to the Himalaya was somewhat of a "pilgrimage" for the company whose name stems from the fictitious tribe in the Tom Robbin's novel Jitterbug Perfume, a semi-imortal, shamanic tribe of playfull mustics that is said to have lived in caves in the foothills of the Himalaya and whose longevity was due in part to a dance they performed called the Bandaloop. This is the first time Project Bandaloop has traveled to and performed in the Himalaya, but they hope it is not their last.

– Amelia