Maya Krishna Rao performed You Really Want to Know My Story?”—Tales of Incarceration and Death Row in India, hosted by Barnard’s Movement Lab and Columbia’s South Asia Institute.

On October 30, Columbia’s South Asia Institute and Barnard’s Movement Lab hosted a one-woman show directed, choreographed, and performed by Maya Krishna Rao, an Indian theatre artist, comedian, and social activist. The performance, titled “You Really Want to Know My Story?”—Tales of Incarceration and Death Row in India, depicted the stories of two Indian death row prisoners through song, dance, and spoken word. As part of the Movement Lab’s Performance and Talk Series, the show was followed by a conversation between Rao and Columbia Journalism School professor Alisha Solomon.

The intimate performance began as Rao entered the stage dressed in an all-white prisoner’s uniform, acting as her unnamed character, based on the real experiences of a bus driver and migrant worker who were on death row. A haunting Indian classical music score highlighted her movements and voice as she portrayed the experiences of solitary confinement and torture in the prisons. She then recounted how the character was put into prison without a fair trial, her voice resonating throughout the space. The performance ended with a recitation of somber statistics about prisoners in India, especially emphasizing the fact that most prisoners on death row are young people without any prior criminal record. The lights faded as Rao sat in a “torture chair,” breathing shakily with her head in her hands. 

I’m always amazed at how people can express emotions and stories through dance. The strength in Rao’s performance came not only from her sweeping, large movements that engaged every part of her body but also from her subtle gestures, like the tapping of her feet to express stress and the twitches of her arms as she confronted an imaginary prison officer. Her eyes were also a crucial part of the performance: it truly felt like her character was staring into our souls, rapidly moving side to side and pleading with the audience to hear this story. 

Of course, the theatrical aspects of Rao’s performance were also spectacular. I especially loved how she manipulated the dynamics of her voice to show both resistance and vulnerability. Despite some microphone issues, I could clearly understand her beautifully written script. I also liked how she played with language: while the majority of the performance was in English, some of the more vulnerable moments—such as when the character was talking about their children or defending themselves from police—were in Hindi, which is the native language of the death row prisoners the performance is based on. Personally, I’d learned a bit about political prisoners in India, but hearing and especially seeing the stories of these everyday people made me more conscious about the nature of the criminal justice system both in India and in the United States.

After the performance, Rao had a question-and-answer discussion with Alisha Solomon, a professor at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism who also teaches at Sing Sing Correctional Facility through Columbia’s Prison Education Project. Solomon’s questions mainly focused on Rao’s inspiration for this performance as well as the creative process behind her other projects. I was amazed to learn that most of Rao’s performances begin with complete improvisation of both words and movement. For a previous piece called Walk, she simply looked for a random hip-hop beat on YouTube and began to freestyle without even recording the session to remember for later. 

The floor was then opened to audience members to ask questions, which were mostly about the content of the performance. When asked if she would perform this project in India, she responded “Yes and no,” citing the censorship she could potentially receive in the country. She was just as shocked as I was when someone mentioned the number of death row prisoners in the United States, which is one of the highest in the world. She also talked about some of her other projects, most of which are commentaries on social issues in India. 

As a dancer with an interest in social justice myself, Rao’s dedication to her craft and activism was deeply inspiring to me. This was also my first time in the Movement Lab, and I am so grateful to have a space at school where performance and advocacy intersect. I can’t wait to see what’s next in store for both Rao and the Movement Lab!

The Movement Lab via Ann Dai