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Indra’s Vast Net

Imagine a large net stretched across the vast expanse of our world system studded with an infinitely faceted jewel at each intersection. Each glittering jewel is unique in its structure and mirrors all the others—ultimately reflecting and expressing the radiance of the entire universe. All of totality can be seen in each of its parts. Such is the metaphor used in the ancient Buddhist “Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra” to illustrate the interconnected and interpenetrating nature of all phenomena.

Performance

“Indra's Net” by Meredith Monk

Place

Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY, September 29, 2024

Words

Karen Greenspan

“Indra's Net” at Park Avenue Armory. Photograph by Maria Baranova

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Composer, singer, director, choreographer, filmmaker, and creative pioneer Meredith Monk took this image as inspiration for an immersive interdisciplinary work responding to the need for connection in our current moment. “Indra's Net,” the third composition in a trilogy about connectedness and the natural world, was first staged at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam last year. Now, it is having its North American staged premiere at the Park Avenue Armory in the soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall—an appropriate space for a production expressing a concept of this scale. 

Monk, now 81 years old, is an avowed Buddhist practitioner and has likened the performing state to meditation—a fluid state open to whatever is present. One of the purposes of Buddhist meditation is to reconnect with our fundamental nature of interconnectedness. With “Indra’s Net,” Monk invites the audience into that meditative experience. In this evocation of interconnection, Monk continues her intrepid exploration of the human voice conceiving limitless dimensions of expressive sound, which she physicalizes and embodies in visual forms. Through her signature process of using vocal sounds without recognizable words, she creates a globally understood and felt experience unmediated by words. 

Monk, along with her vocal ensemble, a sixteen-piece chamber orchestra, and an additional eight-member chorus perform an interplay of music, choreography, and video to embody the celestial and the earthly realms enveloped in Indra’s vast net. In this 80-minute production without intermission, the performers never leave the giant circular stage. Various groupings of vocalists and instrumentalists perform (while moving) abstract sketches amplified by a birds-eye view of the choreography projected onto the backdrop of a large circular screen. The movement is basic but thematically suggestive, and it is important to “seeing” the sound.

“Indra's Net” at Park Avenue Armory. Photograph by Maria Baranova

With the deliberate, slow pulse of the opening section, I could feel my own breathing slow down. The gentle, sparkling, instrumental tones and rhythm established a feeling of the earth’s rotation as transcendent voices wove themselves into a brilliantly connected sonic universe. The vocal ensemble then sang while seated in a row performing a choreography of arms lifting and reaching across to connect hands forming a crisscrossed chain. This simple design of connectedness shifted into a vocal game of catch. Standing at various points in the space, the performers volleyed tones and syllables back and forth between each other with spirited playfulness. 

A lit square appeared in the center of the circular space—referencing the archetype of a mandala. This design, used in Buddhist meditation practices, symbolizes a Buddha field or pure realm. Within this space, the vocalists initiated a simple movement section—walking toward the center of the circle, retreating backward, and sidestepping around the periphery—a folk dance pattern. The dance grew in complexity as the performers divided and, all together, performed alternate movements. With the infusion of energy from the instruments and the addition of a video projection of the birds-eye view of the dance, it became an organized, complex system—a multi-dimensional mandala—connected, coordinated, and beautiful.

The sections ebb and flow eventually building to another striking tableau, in which the vocal ensemble, costumed in white, and the chorus, dressed in black (costume and scenic design by Yoshio Yabara), are all vocalizing and moving within the circular space. Animated, black and white projections of a massive system of branches flow over the performers, the floor, and the screen behind them. The vocal ensemble lies down in a row and reprises the interconnecting arm choreography. At the same time, the video projections change color to red and white suggesting a system of blood vessels within the human body. As the projections revert to black and white, the backdrop screen offers a birds-eye view in real time of the performers interacting with the tree branches—climbing swinging, and leaping. The messages are clear—within each of us is a complex universe, and we are all part of a vast universe that is much larger than our individual selves.

“Indra's Net” at Park Avenue Armory. Photograph by Maria Baranova

In Buddhist meditation practice, one begins by setting one’s positive intention. One ends by sharing the merit (beneficial energy) with all sentient beings. Likewise, the production is bookended by two installations—“Rotation Shrine” and “Offering Shrine.” Upon entering the hall, before proceeding to the seating area, one first encounters the “Rotation Shrine.” This video, set to soothing, soaring vocals sung by Monk’s ensemble, projects a bird’s-eye view of a slowly spinning performer inviting the audience to contemplate the rotation of the earth and cycles and seasons of life. As the spinning motion continues, the figure morphs into a profile-view of the head of the various performers—each one different, yet each a featureless profile—underscoring the commonality we all share. 

As you exit, the “Offering Shrine,” completes the experience. This video installation replaces the earlier shrine with a silent video of a series of disembodied hands opening to offer a gift—a strawberry, a thimble, a hair comb, seashells. Beneath the video display, on a low bench, is a static arrangement of these same “good-bye” offerings. For Monk, art is a spiritual practice.

Karen Greenspan


Karen Greenspan is a New York City-based dance journalist and frequent contributor to Natural History Magazine, Dance Tabs, Ballet Review, and Tricycle among other publications. She is also the author of Footfalls from the Land of Happiness: A Journey into the Dances of Bhutan, published in 2019.

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