Song was performed by Sheila Ghelani, Omikemi, Kazuko Hohki, Collin Clay-Chase and Emma Frankland as part of Independent Dance's What Remains festival in May 2016. Five monologues were co-written by each of the artists working closely with Rajni, reflecting responses to a series of questions Rajni asked the performers about what it was like to inhabit their particular body during this lifetime.
When on stage, bodies stand in for something; they allow readings to pass through them and to be projected onto them. But they are not still, they are moving. They too are passing through, or being passed through, as we inhabit them during our lifetime. In the end they are vessels carrying stories for a short amount of time, until they break open and the stories pass through to another vessel.
This series of short monologues are scattered throughout the festival. Like a song that is passed between people, each performance echoes the others but is defined by the voice and body of the performer. Together, they attempt to reflect the complex histories of bodies and the simple beauty in noticing someone for a moment.
Image credits: above, documentation of monologues by Stephen Wright Photography; below, publicity image by Meredith Evans