The BRM Project

The Body Remembers
The Mountain

The BRM Project asks: What might it mean to remember the Mountain with our moving

bodies, with our thinking, with our sensing, and with our imaginings? What might it mean

for our communities and for the well-being of the Earth in this place? As we move toward

the Mountain, the Mountain also approaches us, connecting us through pathways of

resonance and storytelling to the stories of mountains across India and the US.

The BRM Project asks: What might it mean to remember the Mountain with our moving bodies, with our thinking, with our sensing, and with our imaginings? What might it mean for our communities and for the well-being of the Earth in this place? As we move toward the Mountain, the Mountain also approaches us, connecting us through pathways of resonance and storytelling to the stories of mountains across India and the US.

BRM Project 2023

The BRM Project 2023 is an archival, ethnographical, and critical performance study of

Kaliasodharanham (Lifting Mount Kailash) that examines how the performing body of

Kutiyattam engages with the questions of eco-aesthetics. This research, which included a

study of Kerala stories about mountains and their communities, resulted In the Blue Houses

Dream the Mountains a live/virtual intercultural bi-lingual theatre work on mountains and

climate change and the first ever Accessible Theatre Production for live theatre work in

Kerala, with interpretation in Indian Sign Language and audio description in Malayalam. This

project formed part of Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren’s Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar

Research (April- December 2023.)

The BRM Project 2023 is an archival, ethnographical, and critical performance study of

Kaliasodharanham (Lifting Mount Kailash) that examines how the performing body of

Kutiyattam engages with the questions of eco-aesthetics. This research, which included a

study of Kerala stories about mountains and their communities, resulted In the Blue Houses

Dream the Mountains a live/virtual intercultural bi-lingual theatre work on mountains and

climate change and the first ever Accessible Theatre Production for live theatre work in

Kerala, with interpretation in Indian Sign Language and audio description in Malayalam. This

project formed part of Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren’s Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar

Research (April- December 2023.)

The BRM Project 2023 is an archival, ethnographical, and critical performance study of Kaliasodharanham (Lifting Mount Kailash) that examines how the performing body of Kutiyattam engages with the questions of eco-aesthetics. This research, which included a study of Kerala stories about mountains and their communities, resulted In the Blue Houses Dream the Mountains a live/virtual intercultural bi-lingual theatre work on mountains and climate change and the first ever Accessible Theatre Production for live theatre work in Kerala, with interpretation in Indian Sign Language and audio description in Malayalam. This

project formed part of Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren’s Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar

Research (April- December 2023.)

BRM Project 2024

The BRM project—as a theatrical performance, scholarship, and a series

of workshops—examines Mt Rainier and others as focal and inclusive sites for sacred

storytelling, art-making, and ecological reimaginings of our relations to the earth.

The BRM project—as a theatrical performance, scholarship, and a series of workshops—examines Mt Rainier and others as focal and inclusive sites for sacred storytelling, art-making, and ecological reimaginings of our relations to the earth.

BRM Project 2023 Video Highlights

*Image Description : A deer shadow puppet blended into the mountain landscape of an evening.

Rhythmic Stories of Palakkad

The rhythm of their bodies synchronizes with the rhythm of the environments: the weaver's body syncs in with the loom. In many such rhythms lies numerous stories for the people of Palakkad to tell and recite through their songs. Those stories have been lingering in the air for a long time, waiting to gain their shapes when the daylight falls and night light comes. Their songs continue to be carried through the winds of this place.

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*Image Description : A snapshot of Maari Theyyams performing among the villagers.

As Reds and Greens Spilled

The bodies become adorned with more green, and the rustling sound of people gathering around gradually intensifies before the song of the gods commences and the Maari Theyyam enters into its dance trance. As the drum beats intensify and the song gets repeated over, the greens and reds of their bodies slowly dissipate through their movements. They gradually blend into the people and the surrounding landscape.

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*Image Description : Instrument-making craftsman using his whole body to tie the ropes on the body of a drum.

Drums of Peruvemba

The creation of an ecosystem of art forms comes from varied contributions, including that of a place, a community, and the natural environment. A part of that whole comes from the instrument-making people of Peruvemba, Palakkad. Behind the musical sounds we experience are images of spaces with raw materials like animal skin, ropes, wood, stones, and ashes of leaves. In these spaces, bodies have been engaged in working with the toughness of such materials for years, contributing to musical journeys.

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*Image Description : Image of built spaces through the interstices of which a backdrop of mountains is revealed.

Lost Spaces

What stories do these lost spaces have to say? From the presence to the absence of people in these spaces, will memories survive or will they be ghosted with only the humming of its surrounds remaining?

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In the Blue Houses Dream the Mountains

In the Blue Houses Dream the Mountains is an experimental and inter-cultural performance about the beauty and fragility of our mountains while shedding light on the pressing challenges of climate change…