Salutations by Tammy Lin Foreman (3 min. 2003) Directed, shot, and edited by Lester Alfonso with outtakes from inter-arts project Rubies by Deepti Gupta.
Check out also: The Instant Video Showcase and Before Instant Videos featuring videos prior to the Instant Video project and broadcast on CBC’s ZeD TV. Audio tracks are available for purchase on Tammy Lin Foreman’s Bandcamp page.
In memory of Jenna Morrison.
Before starting the production, choreographer Deepti Gupta, fresh off a plane from India, handed Tammy a book to inspire her development of material. The production was a live performance called Rubies and it was a choreography by Gupta that incorporated Tammy Lin Foreman’s live vocal stylings and my video projection work.
The book was Sri Lalita Sahasranama, a sacred text that inspired Gupta for the choreography. It is a Hindu text from the Brahmanda Purana. The Lalita uSahasranama is the thousand names of the Hindu mother goddess Lalita.
It was in the summer of 2003. We lived near Algonquin Park in Ontario at the time so we took advantage of the location when we shot custom footage of the dancers in various bucolic settings. After a few days, they went off to rehearse as a group in Toronto while I ventured off on my own into the isolation chamber of the editing suite in my home office.
The project was dogged with problems from the very beginning. I remember losing a week’s worth of editing work because of some glitch in the software that I was experimenting with. I ended up having to cram all the work into three days to meet the deadline.
It was an ambitious project that attempted to incorporate multiple disparate elements into one whole. After being well-received by Peterborough, scathing reviews came out in the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail after our performances at Harbourfront Theatre in Toronto.
Inspired by Lalita, the Tantric goddess of energy and passion, Rubies was positioned as a “paean to feminine strength rendered through the basic [movement] vocabulary of Chhau, the martial arts from the Indian state of Orissa.” Paul Citron, writing for The Globe and Mail continued:
…while Jenna Morrison showed some polish, Kyla Kowalski and Melissa Kramer failed to display comfort in the style. In fact, the choreography had difficulty holding its own beside the overbusy video of Lester Alfonso that distracted rather than enhanced the dance. Quite lovely footage of Morrison, Kowalski, and Kramer symbolically shot in the countryside, was gerrymandered between tile effects, split images, and a whole raft of other artsy film tricks. There were flashes of beauty in both the live performance and the film, but overall, the piece is a classic case of too many parts not making a cohesive whole.
Paula Citron, Three visions offer a study in contrasts
The Globe and Mail, published October 6, 2003
It was only much later did I go back and salvage any unused footage in service of the video for Tammy’s Salutations where she used lines from the book that inspired Rubies but this song was never used in the production.
Previously unavailable until now, its resurfacing is made even more poignant today by the tragic loss of dancer Jenna Morrison in 2011. Morrison had a fatal bicycle accident on her way to pick up her five-year-old son in Toronto.
The Toronto Star reported, “A yoga instructor, she was a spiritual person who supported her husband through a cancer fight a few years ago. He won the battle and continued his livelihood in production and design for film and television. Nothing but promise lay ahead. They had a 5-year-old boy and a second child on the way” when tragedy struck.
This video is dedicated to the memory of Jenna Morrison as it captures her spirit and celebrates her movement, her beauty, and her art. Rest in peace, Jenna! Much love. —LA
P.S. If you’re liking these daily posts, perhaps you can consider becoming a monthly donor for a year or making a one-time contribution. It would seriously help a lot. Your money goes directly into supporting an artist committed to continually become the best version of himself. Thank you so much! Much love, LA