Milkwhite – the ritual of disguise

Idea/director:                   Karolina Spaic
Choreography/dance:       Tamara Roso
Videography:                     Monali Meher

Milkwhite – the ritual of disguise is the new production of Zid Theatre Amsterdam for the 2007-2008 season.
This multimedia solo performance by choreographer/dancer Tamara Roso, directed by Karolina Spaic is the story of a dark-skinned woman growing up in a western society. It is inspired by Tamara’s personal story; she was born in the Netherlands in the late sixties, the child of the only “brown family” in a small town in the province of Noord-Brabant.

the theme
“I am Tamara and I am brown”
These words are repeated often during the performance, as confirmation, as question and as judgment. Tamara is of Indonesian descent, the daughter of a Dutch mother and an Indonesian father and in this solo she represents an entire generation of ‘Indonesians’ who find themselves in a no man’s land. The theme of one’s origin and its consequences play a central role here. This production explores the process Tamara is going through to find, control and disguise her personal and cultural identity. It is dance to the bone. Milkwhite is an optimistic performance showing a woman who gains strength and self-awareness in an emotional struggle that often becomes absurdist. Milkwhite is both vulnerable and strong. She fights for her own place in this western world that doesn’t seem to have room for ‘others’.

the show
This is a solo performance in which four alter egos appear, forced transformations of Milkwhite herself: her granny, her father, her lover and her child. Everything seems to revolve around being white or not. White as snow, white as milk…
She sits alone in a desolate virtual landscape, holding a jug of milk. Milk becomes water, soap, food, pain, humiliation, temptation, beauty, her own skin.

She tackles her body with white grease paint in a ritual of disguise, transforming herself into a ghostlike character. In the end she resorts to a blonde, Barbie-like wig. But instead of becoming beautiful, she becomes a tragic, clownish figure. There is no such thing as a brown nymph.
In Milkwhite virtual landscapes, ritual dance and visual drama melt into one.
Monali Meher has created these virtual landscapes that visualize unseen worlds. The pastures of Brabant become a white landscape of milk where Tamara can give in without restrain to her obsession of becoming white. There are exotic, colourful landscapes of a country she has never been to. The images are projected from many angles in a constant interaction between dance and video.

Milkwhite is created by three highly individual female artists, each of whom have their own personal experience of the theme at hand. This has made the production into an exploration into the identity of women who are ‘different’: not western, not white, not blonde.
Tamara Roso is a choreographer, dancer and performer who made her debut as a dancer with Scapino Ballet of Rotterdam. She has since made dozens of dance performances, choreographies and personal projects, developing a her own signature idiom of movement, based on ballet techniques. As a performer she is whimsical, humorous and poetic, showing he personal way of dancing in every detail.

Director Karolina Spaic is the artistic leader of Zid Theatre and well-known for her multimedia productions in which the interaction between various disciplines is an essential element. She works from an explicit associative editing principle where the visual dramaturgy is the defining factor. The basis for each production is laid during an intense research stage with performers and artists from various fields, such as video, sound and writing. This results in unconventional performances that reflect the relevance of universal themes for current situations.

Monali Meher is a multimedia artist from India who works with video, performances and photography. Her personal style is a hybrid of two cultures: India and Europe. What she creates comes out of her own experiences, observations and encounters and is influenced by her Asian background. She uses new media in a colourful, playful way and makes non-
western rituals accessible to the audience in unexpected ways.

General information
This one hour performance lends itself to medium sized or small theatres and can be played in two setups: frontal, or in circular setting allowing the audience to be closer to the actual stage. The circular setup is better suited to festivals and special locations such as museums.