"Walk" by Maya Rao A performance Analysis

Dr. Maya Rao (dancer, choreographer, teacher, writer, academician and dance curator)

Walk, by Maya Krishna Rao is a well recognized performance, showcased at almost every major public meeting in relation to sexual harassment and sexual violence against women. It was originally in response to the bus gang rape incident in Delhi on 16th of December, 2016. Although it has been performed to represent various such incidents that followed. It leaves a remarkable impact on the audience everywhere. Even though it doesn't follow a script or narrative, its content has remained more or less same over the period of time. Due to its improvisational element, it has been refined with every performance.

I have seen around 3 versions of Walk, two of which were organized by my college when I was an undergraduate student. The third one, the one I would be talking about here, was performed at Jantar Mantar, to which I had access only through YouTube. But even though I was watching a recorded version of the performance, it had the same impact on me as it did when I watched it live.

Its a solo performance and fits the genre of agitprop as it has political underlining. It evokes a number of feelings in us, like the feeling of anger, resentment, and indignation. The aftereffects of the performance are the remarks of its success. The fact that being a short solo performance it leaves a huge dent in your understanding of the society is an exceptional experience.

The style of the performance is a hybrid of kathakali and hip-hop rap style. The performers previous training in kathakali explains that element of her performance. The other half of the hybrid can be understood as drawing from the contemporary popular culture. The act comes very close to what Natyashastra describes as Rudra Tandava. It might be so because of the strong and arguably masculine style of the performance. However, its a very stylized mode of representation making use of gestus. Her body movement, subconsciously inspired by her training in kathakali and use of the rhythmic and poetic language combine to give this impression.

Apart from this, another very important aspect of her performance is the background music. The music sets a mood for the performance even before it begins. Maya has very well incorporated the music in to her performance. Here, at times she follows the rhythm of the music but also makes use of what is known as syncopation, breaking the rhythm or working against the rhythm to call attention.

Although most of her performance is in English, she has tried to blend in phrases in Hindi keeping in mind that most of her performances are held at public places and either of the two might not be the first language of many present. To add to that she has a voice that comes from somewhere deep within. Dark and powerful, its invokes in us a feeling of despair and a need for political change.

When we see the performance, we focus a lot on its background, the reason why it was created at first. However, it is not only about the rape case, and the abuse women face. It is also a reflection of our society that leads up to it. How in a free country women's rights come at a cost. At the cost of being assaulted and disgraced. How men and women are treated differently and why this is the basic problem our country. It reflects upon the problem of gender differentiation that leads insensitiveness towards women.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it is time that more and more people came forward and took a step towards gender equality, to support Maya and other's like her, to join hands in this fight against the male dominated society where women are inevitably seen as the inferior human race. It is time to break the cage and let ourselves free. Like Maya says in her performance, “I want to walk, at midnight, at 2 am, at 3:45am , at 5:30 am”, we should be able to do that without the fear of anything. That men need to understand and engrave in their minds what consent means and why it is important.