East and West meet along the Silk Road in a project to be
featured during this month's MOOC 2017 in Second Life.
"The desert sands lead on, but look ahead -
a palace of bright tents and green date palms
where camel backs can crumple knee bones down.
An oasis waits beneath the desert moon.".
Dr Chris Mooney Singh (Singh Albatros) of The Writers
Centre, Singapore and Scott Grant (Kaylee West) of Monash University in
Melbourne Australia come together to create an event celebrating the connective
cultural thread that is the legendary Silk Road - Caravanserai 1. In a desert
oasis setting, they have brought together artists from around the grid for
storytelling, drama, song, and machinima, to be followed by a panel discussion
of the value of virtual arts in education.
The performance will take place Saturday, June 24th at 7am slt.
This free performance is open to all Second Life Residents,
and is part of this year's SL MOOC, a month long cavalcade of education which
focuses on active learning, reflection, sharing, and collaboration. The aim of
the courses and workshops offered is for the participants to learn through
meaningful connections and social interactions, building on the strength of
virtual worlds as learning tools.
Caravanserai's
intent is to celebrate the sharing of different cultures by transporting guests
to an earlier time when the Silk Road contributed hugely to artistic and
cultural understanding and world culture.
Travelers going both directions would seek shelter in oasis' or a
caravanserai: an inn with a central courtyard for wayfarers in the desert
regions of Asia or North Africa . Caravanserais
supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of
trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe, especially
along the Silk Road. In that
pre-television, pre-internet time, it is easy to imagine people from many
different traditions gathered around a fire with refreshments, sharing songs
and tales of their lands and travels.
Singh narrates the hour long plus program, featuring his own
adaptation of The Elephant and the Six
Blind Men, original songs, special musical guest - gypsy violinist Navtali
Torok, and James Elroy Flecker's 1913 verse drama The Golden Road to Samarkand.
Singh is joined by actors Pip Albatros, Corwyn Allen, and Mavromichali
Szondi. There will be a screening of a
machinima based on the Edwin Thumboo poem "Ulysses by the Merlion" in
which the speaker is Ulysses, the Homeric hero. By strange design or cosmic
accident he finds himself in Asia , confronting
this strange dragon, or naga-like creature and the Asian sea culture that it
represents.
There will be time for Questions and Answers as part of the
panel discussion portion of the program, before the final song before the
caravan comes full circle, and guests disembark for their native lands once
more.
Caravanserai 1
benefits Feed a Smile which supports a school in Kenya founded and run by Brique
Topaz 16 years ago through her German-based Feed a Smile charity. 100 Lindens
equals approximately 30 cents in real world currency, which pays for one
child’s meal. One third of all money raised for each month's food budget is
collected through donations in SL at The Lavender Fields where musicians perform
in support of the children.
Much of Caravanserai 1
will be in voice, performed live. To find
out more about the MOOC component of the program, visit any of the live MOOC
events. Wonder why the program in
numbered 1? The creators hope this may
be the first of a series of similar offerings that will emerge across the grid,
sharing the coming together of diverse cultural traditions and the further
growth of understanding through the arts.
So, make ready the camels!
Caravanserai is about to begin, and you do not want to miss the journey.
Caravanserai 1
At Monash
University
Saturday, June 24th at 7am slt
Caravanserai 1 Video Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uugnwQQ4VI8&feature=youtu.be
~ Caledonia Skytower
Any ink is good ink, even if it is virtual
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