Rasa Boxes: Physical Embodiment of Rasas

After the initial exploration and gallery walk outlined in previous entries, it is time to set up the actual Rasa Boxes. On the photo at left you can see how I set it up on my classroom floor. I use caution tape and a small amount of painters tape or theatrical spiking tape. This way I can lift it off the floor after each class. It takes only a few minutes to set up and students love to help. In black box theaters I’ve seen chalk used. Anything that marks out 9 even boxes, with enough room for several students to be standing in at one time.

Once it is set up, you randomly place the posters the students made in the previous lesson with each Rasa. Leave the middle with no Rasa—this is your neutral box. I then demonstrate what I am going for—a physical embodiment of the rasa whenever the “performer” is in the box. For example, if you are in Raudra, you assume a pose (or in my case, a moving physical picture) that captures the spirit of the Rasa. I am not looking for language at this stage, focusing on Body and perhaps sound (breath also plays a part here). 

There is no specific sequence proceeding from this, but in general I want students to experience the physical and breath aspects of a particular Rasa before they begin to explore using language. Look at some of the links in rasa readings I included in the articles section of this webpage for ideas https://www.richardsilberg.com/new-page-97. The steps I took in the demo videos were to focus on one rasa at a time and have students come out and demonstrate a physical interpretation of that Rasa. One student at a time and then another student would come out, tap the “statue” and create a new one. In the first video we did “Adbhuta” which translates to awe, astonishment or wonderment. We did this for several rounds with different rasas. I added the request in the videos focusing on “Bibhasta” (the odious) for the student “bring your statue to life a little”. You can see that language naturally developed from this request. This is where side coaching can come in for spontaneous generation of language, or you can have students in teams “rehearse” language and then present.

I have also had students jump around from box to box randomly, assuming a pose or physical embodiment of each rasa as they move. It can be exhausting work. When a participant is in a box it is important to coach them to be fully in the rasa; when they are out, they are out— letting go of it.  Constantly switching and experiencing.  My video examples only show one at a time, but depending on size of group, you could have people watch while ½ are in the rasa, or all in at once.  I once did it with 48 students in a theatre ensemble and we had groups of 12 in there at a time.

There are many places to go from here. In the next installment, Rasa boxes part IV, I will focus on language development through team creations of “Rasa Statues”.