CENTRAL QUESTION: If we define cities as bodies in space and we as people hold specific emotions and experiences at a time, how do the specific emotions and experiences show up in the spaces we inhabit?

CONTEXT: The Natyashastra, seminal text of Bharatanataym, an ancient South Asian, Hindu dance form, details eight rasas (emotions) which are used for communicating through gesture, movement, and narrative.

EXPERIMENT: Eight performances using Bharatanatyam movements about the eight rasas onto 3’ x 3’ x 3” blocks of mud to visualize differences of emotions in the “spaces”.

SO WHAT: How can we use insights of ethnic and embodied art-processes to nurture spaces for and around diverse communities of color? As a community of immigrants, refugees, and othered people, visioning through play can democratize the process of designing plural, antiracist cities.

This work is funded by the SIM Student Council and private donations from community members.

Learn more about the project here.