Within the Project Rasa, Maisternia Pisni works on the musical material and movement originating from Ukrainian female rituals, as well as from rituals of the annual cycle, focusing on the role of the women. The members of Maisternia examine some selected songs, deriving from various Ukrainian regions – especially from Vinnica, Poltava and Polesia – in the light of rituals, which the group attempts to find in and through the songs. The next stage of the project consists of the attempts to find an adequate theatrical form for this research. This stage of the work is the search for the “elements of ritual within the stage actions”.

The notion of “rasa” is understood not as the aggregate of biological features of human being, but it is first of all a principle and notion of Indo-European poetics, cultural trace and sign that refers to notion of law, ritual (rite) and radiation. The meaning of “rasa” can be the most precisely rendered by image of a dew, aftertaste and delight. The idea of “rasa” and “raciality” is understood by us as after-sound, the quality of the radiation of the silence after last transmitted by voice sound, something that remains after artistic action, the joy itself.

The project is connected with artistic and art-scientific research of maiden rituals in Ukrainian tradition of singing, attempt to comprehend their laws through laboratory of singing, cultural and anthropological explorations and presentation of the results of the research in form of artistic actions and products (performance, CDs, film, actions, publications etc.)
Sergiy Kovalevych

The format:
- Art and research laboratory of the ritual maiden singing;
- performance “On Sunday Morning” based on maiden ritual of the annual cycle;
- CD “On Sunday Morning” (soundtrack to the performance);
- five CDs with songs, connected with holidays of the year;
- annual project “After Christmas”, CD-postcard “After Christmas” ’2008, multimedia-CD “After Christmas” ’2009;
- scientific and art conferences-festivals, devoted to ritual singing;
publications of research materials.
- art-documentary film connected with the research of Ukrainian maiden rituals and singing;
- film “On Sunday Morning” (fragments of the performance), dir. S.Kovalevych, 2008.

Director of the project, director
Sergiy Kovalevych

musical director
Natalia Polovynka

Performance within Rasa project
«On Sunday morning»
maiden ritual