VIRTUAL SOULS (1997)
On the Internet someone opens a window into the past...
Nature reveals its mythical secrets--
swans transform into beautiful women.
But can you copyright a dream?
conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz
created by Yara Arts Group and artists from the Buryat National Theatre.
PRESS in NEW YORK
*** JANUARY PICK for Simon Says - a supplement to the Village Voice
VILLAGE VOICE -- THEATRE CHOICE for January 21, 1997
First of all, see Virtual Souls... Virtual Souls is perhaps the most complete and satisfying show I have seen at La MaMa (and anywhere else?) at least since Alice Farley's immensely imaginative production about the transformation of Daphne into a tree in the same space [two years ago]. It was conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz and the Yara Arts Group and artists from the Buryat National Theatre....The legend of the founding of the Buryat people concerns a maiden who was a swan (yes, Swan Lake). We eventually get around to that in this rich, rich evening. What we begin with is a group of modern young 'uns surfing the Web. This section might be a bit extended as it is a while before we reach Siberia, but it never bores and it is well worth the wait. We eventually get to the Northern past and now we have a superb integration of two languages of music: Buryat, soft rock (by Genji Ito, who excelled even himself here) and a song by Vladlen Pantaev. We have dramatic tension, withdrawal, rest: just like real plays are supposed to have. We have both transitions and surprises, no transitions but shock. We have a free relaxed use of stage space that suggests a world. We have fine acting, people who can read lines, people who can move. Tom Lee, as the Hunter, amazes. He can impart meaning to lines, even stylized repeated lines, he can move like a dream, he sings... He is not the only one on this stage. I can't identify each performer by name but even in moments of movement, swan invocations and the like, we can all learn from this cast. The Buryat actors especially had something important to teach us. What more to add? The movement shaped by Cheng-Chieh Yu, the simple quasi-ballet of the Swans was again a surprise in the fullness of the evening -- the physical look of the whole narrative, the sound, the graphics, the slides, the stage management... just about everything. Theatrical truth exists... As I write this, I recall little memorable moments as when Katie Takahashi as the swan flies away, a Buryat actor's movement in a narration about the Swan, the scene that builds in two languages but one common intention between the Hunter and a Buryat actor. The music here was especially effective. "The Swan is our mother and the birch -- our family tree" Yes, indeed. Perhaps of us all. See Virtual Souls. Forget Broadway. See Virtual Souls. Do I make myself clear?
Bert Wechsler, First Nite Reviews, www.nytheatre-wire.com
Yara Arts Group at La MaMa has produced Virtual Souls , an experimental opera with "virtual reality" and the Internet as its leit motifs. The opera begins with the frame of two men and three women isolated from each other in "downtown" New York. Two young women talk about meeting men in "chat rooms" on the Internet; one of whom works at home and has only met the people for whom she works in virtual space; the other walks by fire stations and corners of drug dealers on her way to work through soulless culture. A young man at a computer sings an aria about the grandeur of the "binary system" which structures our computers, ritualistically chanting the numbers 1-0-1 to a crescendo. The actors are on a narrow platform with scrim screens behind them on which are projected flashing images. Suddenly, one young man sings "open-window-mouse-click!" and they are transported to a cyberspace mythical time (like the Aborigines' "dream time") of the Buryat Mongols of Siberia.... A strikingly beautiful woman in ornamental, oriental dress turns towards the audience and sings an alluring song in the tongue of these nomads and hunters, who are both Bhuddists and Shamanists. It is as if director Virlana Tkacz used a laser beam to remove thin layers of culture film from our eyes and transported us to a primeval state. The music, composed by Genji Ito, includes the unusual sound of the morin khoor, a cello-like instrument, with the sung sounds of throat singing which combines a vibrating drone with melodic notes. The actors from the two cultures perform together with aria, dance and changing exotic costume to the wild shamanic drum beats, the "origin myth": for the Buryat-Mongolians their mother is the swan and their family tree the birch tree. It is an ironic, intricate myth, sung in Buryat and English and with themes somewhat like the more familiar "Swan Lake." This Pirandellian, richly woven multi-cultural, multi-media, chamber opera, of high originality, and intense performance, sped through its hour-and-a-half like a lucid dream!
Melinda Jo Guttman, This Month on Stage, February, 1997
Less than two years ago Virlana Tkacz staged a very successful production at La MaMa which was based on Ukrainian folk traditions and featured the unsurpassable Nina Matvienko. Now she has staged at La MaMa (from January 16-26, 1997) a piece based on Buryat mythology and traditions. Buryatia, a republic in Siberia, is a part of the Russian Federation and is located on the shores of Lake Baikal. Three actors from the Buryat National Theatre are featured in this production. The plot is very clear: a group of American websurfers accidentally make contact with Buryats... and land in a mythical Buryatia.... The production does not rely on the plot -- it is a dance theatre piece. Virlana Tkacz has very successfully combined singing, music, dynamic movement and choreography into a unified style which visually transmits not only the narrative, but also the spiritual content of the piece and gives us a sense of the Buryat world.The acting is harmonious and on an very high level. One must, however, single out Tom Lee, who transformed from an American actor into a Buryat hunter and set the tone for the entire production. with his movements and mise-en-scenes. The excellent acting of the three Buryat actors: Erdeny Zhaltsanov, (Bard) Erzhena Zhambalov (Woman with the Wind) and Sayan Zhambalov (Wind) also deserves special mention. They brought to the show aspects of Buryat culture and traditions which are unique and totally unknown here.
Bohdan Boychuk, Svoboda, January 31, 1997
PRESS IN ULAN-UDE, BURYAT REPUBLIC, SIBERIA
Our actors, Sayan and Erzhena Zhambalov and Erdeny Zhaltsanov, were very successfully included in the show -- they became an organic part of the ensemble, and one assumes that they have all worked together for a long time. In terms of movement, words, and songs -- everything was organic and artistic, so alive. This can be attested by the lucky few who managed to see the show on Saturday September 7 at the Buryat National Theatre... Erzhena Zhambalov, who spoke to the audience before the show: "This piece includes movement, words, song, dance -- it is a poetic movement and music piece." We heard English, Russian, Buryat texts, songs and the morin khoor in the hands of Erdeny Zhaltsanov lent its mournful sounds, slides appeared on stretched sails of the set, and the shaman drum resounded. The image of the swan mother and the beautiful swans who have no place in this cruel, hostile world... But peace will come and people will learn to understand one another and the swans will return to the Baikal. You can believe this as long as there is art. This is primarily what I understood from this show. Finally, we should list the American actors who appeared in the show: Cecilia Arana, Zabryna Guevara, Tom Lee, Andrew Pang and Eleanor Lipat. They are multicultural -- from all races and nations. And this is interesting. Their general impression: "We fell in love with Buryatia, with its peaceful and friendly people." It was a real pleasure to hear that.
Chinggis Gomboin, Pravda Buriatii (Ulan Ude, Siberia) September 13, 1996
music composed by Genji Ito includes songs by Vladlen Pantaev
and traditional Buryat Mongolian music
designed by Watoku Ueno, movement shaped by Cheng-Chieh Yu
text consultants: Wanda Phipps, Jennifer Wollerman and Erzhena Zhambalov
English translations by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
Buryat translations by Sayan Zhambalov
La MaMa Experimental Theatre - Annex, New York
with: Cecilia Arana, Zabryna Guevara, Tom Lee, Eleanor Lipat, Andrew Pang, Katie Takahashi, Erdeny Zhaltsanov, Erzhena Zhambalov and Sayan Zhambalov
costumes by Luba Kierkosz, production stage manager: Alison Mitchell
stage manager Eleanor Lipat, production assistants: Burcu Cavus, Tsewang and Sara Zatz
January 16 - 26, 1997
Buryat National Theatre, Ulan Ude
with: Cecilia Arana, Zabryna Guevara, Tom Lee, Eleanor Lipat, Andrew Pang, Erdeny Zhaltsanov, Erzhena Zhambalov and Sayan Zhambalov, stage manager Eleanor Lipat, production manager: Lena Gambaeva, projections: Arkadi Bulgatov
September 7, 1996
FLIGHT OF THE WHITE BIRD (1998-1999)
created by Yara Arts Group and the artists from the Buryat National Theatre of Siberia, featuring traditional Buryat Mongolian music and throat singing. -- An American journalist in Siberia today finds herself in the footsteps of a 16th century Buryat Mongolian princess. Their worlds entwine as a Shaman, at the height of his trance, leaves his body and takes flight.
In video clip: The Shamaness (Erzhena Zhambalov) says she will stay behind to protect Balzhan Khatyn (Donna Ong) from the approaching Manchurian Army. She calls down the Thudergirls and closes the road.
created with the Yara Arts Group
and artists from the Buryat National Theatre
with:
Tom Lee, Donna Ong, Meredith Wright, Erdeny Zhaltsanov, Erzhena Zhambalov and
Sayan Zhambalov,
featuring traditional throat singing by Battuvshin
Thunder Dancers: Melanie Anastasia Brown, Suzie Cho, Yoko Hirayama, Allison Hiroto, Maile Holck, Jun Kim, Kathleen Kwan, Frances C. Lee and Mariko Shibata – swings: Jina Oh and Akiko Kikuchi, understudies Soomi Kim (Balzhan Khatyn)
directed by Virlana Tkacz
music composed by Genji Ito and Erzhena Zhambalov
features traditional Buryat folk music and throat singing
production design: Watoku Ueno
costumes made by: Luba Kierkosz, Mrs. Aiusheeva and Sara Jean Tosetti
movement shaped by Dyane Harvey
translations: Virlana Tkacz, Wanda Phipps and Sayan Zhambalov
folk music consultant: Erzhena Zhambalov , vocal coach: Natalia Honcharenko
asst. director & stage manager: Marc Gwinn
asst. stage manager: Naomi Watanabe
production asst: Matvei Yankelevich, administrative assistant: Jason Eksuzian
sound operator: Stefano Zazzera, graphics: Carmen Pujols
New York La MaMa E.T.C, March 6 - 21, 1999
The piece performed at La MaMa in New York, the Buryat National Theatre in Ulan-Ude and on tour in the villages of the Buryat Aginsk Region, where the folk songs and legends that inspired the piece were originally collected.
FLIGHT: A Buryat Princess Finds Us by Virlana Tkacz
The Yara Arts Group, which I head, creates original theatre pieces based on materials from the East. After our first collaboration with the Buryat artists, Virtual Souls, we wanted to work together on another piece. We decided that the piece would explore the theme of transformation and would be based on traditional Buryat folklore and songs. Sayan Zhambalov, one of the Buryat actors, suggested that we go on a research expedition to the Aginsk-Buryat Region, the most traditional area, where ancient songs and legends still live in the memory of the local people.
The Aginsk-Buryat Autonomous Region is near where the borders of Siberia, China and Mongolia come together. It is as far away from New York as you can get, both in physical and spiritual terms. In July of 1997 five Yara artists set out to for this distant land to gather material for our new piece. It is a difficult place to get to -- we had to sit in airplanes and airports for three days before we finally landed in Ulan Ude, the capital of Buryatia just east of Lake Baikal. We were met by our Buryat colleagues: Sayan Zhambalov, his wife Erzhena Zhambalov and Erdeny Zhaltsanov. Together we got into a van and drove east for two more days, first on the Siberian highway, then on back roads. Finally we arrived in Aginskoye, the regional center. It was the late in the afternoon when we drove up a steep dirt road at the edge of town. Sayan's mother, his sister and his brother live in the last three houses. Sayan's sister Sesigma, the oldest in the family, had the largest house, so most of us stayed with her.
I was very sore from sitting for such a long time. When I saw some of our folks hike up to the birch forest right behind the house, I ran to catch up with them. Every tree in the forest was a birch. It was beautiful, but also ghostly. The birches felt like living beings. Here it was obvious why the Buryats said: "My mother is the swan and my family tree -- the birch." I laid down on the ground and stared at the sky through the birch leaves. The delicate smell of the birches was intoxicating.
When I walked back into Sesigma's kitchen it was packed with grandmas. They were all getting dressed in their Buryat folk costumes. Their robes were made of blue brocade and closed on the right side with four silver buttons. The sleeves were a bit puffed with red ribbons cutting across the upper part of the arm. The long sleeves ended with large upturned cuffs of the same material and where decorated with red piping. The robes were gathered in the waist and the full skirts hung down to cover most of the calf. On top of their robes the grandmas all wore long vests made of the same material. A ribbon trim decorated all the edges of the vests and outlined the waists. On their heads they wore the traditional cone shaped Buryat hats made of blue brocade which were topped off with red tassels. The upturned brims of the hats were fur-trimmed. Just under the hat each woman wore a wide velvet band around her head which was decorated with coral and amber, or colored glass. Long silver chains hung down from the band on either side of the head, over the ears. The chains turned into a big silver circle just above the breasts. A silver chain connected the two circles in front and hung down towards the waist. This was the traditional silver decoration that a married Buryat woman wore.
The grandmas also had traditional silver ornaments that hung from both hips. These were very ornate silver circles to which were attached traditional female tools, like a needle case or manicure set to help you clean your nails. I was surprised to see that several of the women had a large ornamental knives hanging from their hip ornament, and commented on it. I was told that although all Buryat women had hip ornaments, only Aginsk-Buryat women wore knives. When I asked if this was an old tradition, I was told, "Oh yes, ever since Balzhan-khatyn."
Before I could ask who was Balzhan-khatyn, the grandmas got into a fuss. They were our official welcoming committee, but they couldn't decide where they should perform the traditional welcome. Most wanted to it to be in "the lap of nature," as they said. We agreed this would look great on video we were planning to shoot. But it was a windy day and our composer Genji wanted to get a good audio recording of the event. He was pushing for them to sing indoors. The grandmas then decide to walk up into the birch forest right behind the house. They would do their official welcoming ceremony on the edge of the birch forest. Then they would return to the house and sing all the songs they knew for Genji to record. And this is what we did. We stayed up late into the evening listening to all their beautiful songs and I forgot about Balzhan-khatyn.
The next time Balzhan-khatyn came up was a few days later. We were going to see a traditional uligershyn, story-teller who lived further south. Just a little bit out of town the good road gave way to the bad and everyone in the back of the van started dozing.
"That's Tsokto Khangil," Sayan suddenly said. "We should stop here." We all got out and Sayan pointed to a hill. "This is the place where Balzhan-khatyn rested." He then explained that Balzhan-khatyn was a Khori-Buryat princess who married the son of a Manchurian Khan when she was very young. Then she ran away, taking her people with her. The old Khan sent an army after her and they pursued her through this area. And this is the place where she rested." I looked at a hill. The earth formed a natural throne. Yes, I could see why people said that a princess rested here.
When we got back in the van I suddenly felt like I had to work on something. I asked Sayan if we had heard any good swan songs. He said we'd heard an interesting song in Tsagan Chelutay. "Remember it was a variation on the "Yoxor" we sang in the last show." He knew the words to the first line or two, but couldn't quite remember the new melody.
Are those swans flying high in the sky? I sing ho-hey
Do they gaze from above on our land? I sing ho-hey
"Later the words were not the same. They were much more... political." "You mean about Lenin." "No, something way before that. But I don't know what. Wait, I wrote down the words in your black note book." I pulled out my Filofax. In back Sayan had scribbled several pages of lyrics. Erzhena, who was sitting next to me, tried to read the notes, but they were illegible . She handed the notebook to Sayan. "Only you can read that scrawl." He slowly deciphered his own handwriting and with Erzhena's prompting, I wrote the words down. Then I asked Sayan what the words meant. Sayan came up with a translation that was mix of Ukrainian and Russian in which we communicated. Then I wrote out a rough English version. I started to work on a better English version with Wanda Phipps, the African-American poet who works with me on all our translations.
Wanda and I have our own way of working. After I write out the first draft, we sit in silence for a long time sounding out the text in our own heads. Then I scribble a new version of a line, or Wanda suggests a word change. Finally, one of us started reading the translation out-loud, the other will jump in with a new phrase or line every once in awhile. We keep reading the text out-loud till we both love it. After awhile the song sounded good in English and I rephrased it in Ukrainian for Sayan. He listened to it saying "Mozhe buty," (Could be), or "Nu..." (Well....) line by line.
If Sayan was not pleased, I would ask for clarification and then return to work on the line Wanda. This process took a long time. The English version of the song had to approximate the syllables in Buryat and had to retain tone of the original language. We did not have a dictionary in the van, so we had to come up with synonyms for "order" and old words for "executioners" ex promptu. There were three verses, and we worked on them for a long stretch of time. All this time we were riding down the road Balzhan-khatyn had ridden 400 years earlier. We didn't yet know it, but we were working on the first song for our new show. We didn't yet know it, but both this song and our show would turn out to be about Balzhan-khatyn and her journey through this area.
"Thunder Dance: Are Those Swans"
translated by Sayan Zhambalov, Virlana Tkacz, Wanda Phipps and Tom Lee
Are those swans flying high in the sky? I sing ho-hey
Do they gaze from above on our land? I sing ho-hey
Is that new way coming to our land? I sing ho-hey
Will this way bring good times to us all? I sing ho-hey
Are those hawks flying high in the sky? I sing ho-hey
Do they gaze from above on our waters? I sing ho-hey
Does the khan send his men to our land now? I sing ho-hey
Will our people take them as their own way? I sing ho-hey
Are those vultures flying high in the sky? I sing ho-hey
Do they gaze from above on our herds? I sing ho-hey
Are those hangmen I see coming to our land? I sing ho-hey
As they ride does death ride through our land? I sing ho-hey
Balzhan-khatyn herself was somehow impressing her story on us, just as once she had impressed her story on the very hills. The name of every land formation and settlement here carried part of her story. Later we would also find out that the song we were translating was a Neryelge -- a Thunder Dance song that could lead you into the heavens.
