Chariot blazing
Wheel is turning
Rays are beaming
I am burning
All that stands in your way
Today
Did my absence
Cause you doubt
There’s no doubt
When i’m about
Piercing clouds
Dispelling rain
Bringing forth the green again
Feel the force of my starshine
Feel the heat of my starshine
Feel the joy in my starshine
Feel the free
Goddess
Rising
In glorious firelight
That’s right
Rays are beaming
My soul streaming
Unconditional love
Radiating
Burning up to ashes
All that moves in your way
Today
Use the holy ash
To draw our circle
Trace our spiral
Write our song
Rage this light
Into infinity
Feel the force of my starshine
Feel the heat of my starshine
Feel the joy in my starshine
Feel the free
Starshine
Starshine
Starshine
Starshine
Lady Krishna (Natasha Shulman) is an artist, performer and fashion muse. From 1972-1977, Lady Krishna attended California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). After graduating from art school with a concentration in painting and multimedia in 1977, Lady Krishna moved to Paris to work, study, and have a love affair. The following year, she returned to New York City to continue her work in both art and music.
The next eighteen years would contain numerous showings and performances in downtown New York City. From one woman shows at La Mama to performances at P.S. 122 and The Kitchen, Lady Krishna was on the scene. In 1997, Lady Krishna returned to Seattle to punish herself for having so much fun in New York. She spent the next eighteen years drinking champagne, recuperating, and putting together her rock n’ roll band Lady Krishna’s Peppermint Lounge. She also became a meditation teacher and, of course, continued painting.
“There must first be the “yes” inside… And the gathering of the people who can help support, and help hold a vision of who you are, and who you know yourself to be, and see yourself to be. And then, the work actually begins.”
—Helga Davis, in this edition of Constellation Conversations
Helga Davis is a vocalist and performance artist with feet planted on the most prestigious international stages and with firm roots in the realities and concerns of her local community whose work draws out insights that illuminate how artistic leaps for an individual can offer connection among audiences. Davis was principal actor in the 25th-anniversary international revival of Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’s seminal opera Einstein on the Beach.
She also starred in Wilson’s The Temptation of St. Anthony, with libretto and score by Bernice Johnson Reagon. Among the collaborations and works written for her are Oceanic Verses by Paola Prestini, You Us We All by Shara Nova and Andrew Ondrejcak and Yet Unheard, a tribute to Sandra Bland by Courtney Bryan, based on the poem by Sharan Strange. She has conceived and performed First Responder and Wanna as responses to Until and The Let Go by multidisciplinary artist Nick Cave. In addition to hosting HELGA, she is artist in residence at National Sawdust and Joe’s Pub, winner of the 2019 Greenfield Prize in composition, a 2019 Alpert Award finalist, and the 2018-21 visiting curator for the performing arts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Helga’s podcast series link: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/helga
Your invitation to practice is to “burn up to ashes all that stands in someone’s way, today!” What is one action you can take in your day to help remove an obstacle in someone else’s path – or – to encourage them by breaking through the clouds of difficulty they are facing in a simple way (a smile, a phone call, an invitation for a walk) or a more committed way (being a shoulder to cry on or lean on, financial or logistical assistance, helping with a laborious task, advocating for someone in a way they may never know directly but would positively impact their life)? What is one belief that you can stand up for, and, by so doing voice a possibility or hold a space for someone else to stand more fully in their truth? Can you do it without attachment to outcome, but with clear, and considered intention? The most important thing about this invitation to practice is that it be for someone other than you. Furthermore, it is important to engage the ethics of your action: it may be appropriate to ask permission, or to give someone an option to accept your intervention. There are other circumstances where that may not be true. Do your best to gauge. And be willing to be vulnerable to the experience. It seems simple, but it is a big invitation.
ALTAREDSTATES is made possible with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab.
Produced by CalArts Center for New Performance.
ALTAR NO. 1 is commissioned by The Public Theater, and created with support from CalArts Center for New Performance and New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency, with funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Partners for New Performance.
