Medea

When it comes to my artistry, I'm a performing artist and my primary performance style is Drag-it boils down to my cultural roots, being Bengali from my father’s side and Odia from my mother’s side, as well as incorporating the elements of transfeminine culture from parts of India I was born and raised in- Punjab, and south of India (Karnataka). Much of my drag conceptually is in form of dance performance that is semi-theatrical to narrate a particular story based on certain themes. I combine two Indian classical dance forms I have been trained in – Odissi and Kathak, giving it a contemporary twist and bit of belly dancing, and executing the dance form in form of enacting a story. The story I am trying to convey is rooted in the cultural practice transfeminine community of North India, known as badhai performed by the Hijdas. Badhai is a traditional performance combining acting, singing and dance, that is done at weddings or on the occasions celebrating birth of a child. Yet the theme of performance is rooted in subversion of gender norms, especially during weddings, the hijras at badhai would mock the bridegroom, and instead celebrate the bride, subverting the norm that wedding should always be about the bridegroom, i.e the man. The basis my drag performance idea is based on badhai, because this was the transfeminine culture I grew up in and am familiar with. A lot of my subversion involves reinterpreting old Bollywood movies from a modern feminist perspective. Another style I'll be bringing in to my practice, is inspired by the Jatra, a folk theatre art from Bengal and Odisha, (my native homelands) , which uses theatre and dance to convey mythological retellings but with relevance placed on contemporary social issues of the time ! My drag at times has been western , where my performance draws from popular American rom com references and mainstream pop but giving it a comedic reinterpretation and incorporating burlesque in my performance style.