Banda’an,2017
Performance.
Duration: Variable, approximately 20 minutes.
Banda’an (Farsi, literally “to bind”) takes its name and inspiration from the old Iranian tradition of Hana Banda’an, a joyous and celebratory henna ceremony held the night before a wedding. Somewhat akin to a bachelorette party, in a Hana Banda’an guests would eat, sing, dance, and women would apply henna to the bride-to-be’s hands and feet as it was believed to be bring luck, fertility and good fortune.
Re-envisioning the ceremony from the perspective of a young bride whose marriage has been arranged, I implicate the audience in my character’s inevitable fate. I imagine the complexity of a girl’s position having an arranged marriage in a traditional setting by playing with the idea of the complacent versus agent woman. Banda’an is a critique of the social and cultural pressures around marriage, community responsibility and collective indifference.
Performed at Y+ Contemporary as part of Land and Body: East (Scarborough, ON); documentation by Deshaun Whyte.
Banda’an
Banda’an, 2017
Performance.
Duration: Variable, approximately 20 minutes.
Banda’an (Farsi, literally “to bind”) takes its name and inspiration from the old Iranian tradition of Hana Banda’an, a joyous and celebratory henna ceremony held the night before a wedding. Somewhat akin to a bachelorette party, in a Hana Banda’an guests would eat, sing, dance, and women would apply henna to the bride-to-be’s hands and feet as it was believed to be bring luck, fertility and good fortune.
Re-envisioning the ceremony from the perspective of a young bride whose marriage has been arranged, I implicate the audience in my character’s inevitable fate. I imagine the complexity of a girl’s position having an arranged marriage in a traditional setting by playing with the idea of the complacent versus agent woman. Banda’an is a critique of the social and cultural pressures around marriage, community responsibility and collective indifference.
Performed at Y+ Contemporary as part of Land and Body: East (Scarborough, ON); documentation by Deshaun Whyte.