3 Operettas: Pas De Deux (Dance For Two / Run Leela Run / Virahagni (Letter From a Lover) 

2005-07

DVD, 3:53 minutes, 3 channel video projection, looped

This is a series of 3 short video-operas influenced by my pastiche memories of Bollywood film classics and narratives within Indian miniature paintings.  In this project I focus on heightened moments of iconic melodrama that begin to veer into camp parody.

In Pas De Deux, two women meet in a park and begin a dance, which is reminiscent of a Bollywood musical number.  The mood is romantic and playful, but things begin go wrong as they stumble, trip and collide.  In Run Leela Run, a woman is chased down a city alleyway by an unseen pursuer. The mood is suspenseful until she is cornered and faces her pursuer.  In Virahagni, a wonan sits alone, weeping and reading a letter from her lover.  She is consumed by the fire of passion and separation, a well-recognized leitmotif found in Indian classical dance, music, literature and painting. 

This work has been presented at the PooL Artfair, New York, Design Exchange Museum, Toronto, and at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh.