Hartman @ Gitanjali
I promised Ms. Pereira, on the night of the Performance at Gitanjali Gallery
(Panjim) last week, that I would let her have something by way of Feedback;
since I sometimes do a page for Goa Net Reader, I'll try to 'kill two birds
with one stone'---not a very pretty metaphor, but considering the overall
context perhaps vaguely evocative.
No need to go into extensive detail about the quality of the performance. It
was very good, and the choreography worked out by this dedicated cast can
rise as another tribute to Martha Graham as she continues to take bows from
the great dance platform in the sky .
The point that comes uppermost in my mind relates to what I would think of
as a mainspring principle, suggested by the concept of 'COMMUNICATION
THROUGH MEANS OTHER THAN LANGUAGE VERBALIZATION'.
For those who have not seen this presentation (which has been 'on the road'
now for some months and currently getting close to its 100th performance,
the story and ecological messaging inherent in it is all done without the
expenditure of a single spoken 'word'.
Full exploitation of this principle within the context of
awareness/education for 'sustainable development', will probably emerge as
one of the major publishing priorities of the next several decades. The
challenges of sustainable development, especially as presented by the mining
industry, are global, and the global language-grid is still variegated and
vast; well conceived and configured media messaging that can pole-vault over
the 'language barrier' should not only bring to its creators huge returns
(both vocational and material), but contribute enormously to the global need
for a u-turn in resource management theory and practice; at every level from
national and state governance to a personal eco-morality-consciousness
inculcated in school systems---beginning at nursery level; and as adult
education, never-ending.
Mining especially presents the veritable 'horns of dilemma'; while certain
regions (Goa is one of them) are especially vulnerable, it is unreasonable
to suggest that any National Authority must forfeit growth aspiration
because the extraction and processing of mineral resources is particularly
eco-hazardous.
Mining will continue, and its ill-effects can only be minimized by
continuous and sincere effort to 'comprehend' the ground realities. While
technological research and enlightened industrial management must play an
ever more vital role, this will probably only be achieved through an
infrastructure that is mainly attitudinal and personal in nature. In other
words, the ultimate 'name of the game' is to be found in EDUCATION.
We may be getting back to Shakespearean times, when 'travelling players'
unrolled their mats on the Village Green. Today's version will include such
as the purpose-built van, with electrical generator; perhaps several
applications of sound-and-light projection, whereby dynamic 'stage-effects'
can be configured. The mustard-seed for this growth will be recognized in
the kind of thing we saw when those young people showed us
Hartman@Gitanjali.
