A solo by Vasudev.C 'Unwinding the past'

Unveiling a woven past

The mirror pool at the NGMA(National Gallery of Modern Art) reflects the image of a man clad in white long fabric wound around his body. He stands confident like a canvas ready to be filled with lines, shapes and colors. The voice of Hindustani singer Namrata Kartik layered with synthesized music of Yashas Shetty fills the out-door space of the gallery premises and the performer responds to the music by brushing the space through movements of Chauu.

A solo by Vasudev.C titled 'Unwinding the past' under the gallery's  programme ' Carte Blance- the grounds of NGMA for temporal art interventions' on the 8th of April 2011.This contemporary dancer trained in Mayurbanj Chauu under Bharat Sharma, is also a professional painter with an M.F.A (Master of Fine Arts) from the Chitrakala Parishat. The piece was presented in collaboration with photographer Ranna MV along with an exhibition of  photographs that captured the dancers motion in still images.

The painter/dancer formed patterns with his body and the fabric depicting past experiences , emotional fluctuations , relationships that are invariably attached to one's life.He wore it with elegance, fondled it with care , followed its trail , admired its texture while he slowly distances from the never-ending yards of its entanglement .A literal narrative very similar to the experiences of Buddha as he renounces the world to seek salvation is seen as the sub-text in the piece, where the performer weaves images of ego, suffering, passion, regret, disorientation and ultimately a peaceful state of being where he is one with the world.The cloth wrapped around his limbs and waist was used as symbolic representation of one's past while the unveiling  intended to convey liberation from this attachment. 

The piece had a frail movement strategy with the dancer twisting , turning, zigzagging , unwrapping the cloth throughout the entire piece. Moments of strong focus , momentum and stark stillness gave hope of taking the piece to a different level but lost to monotony during this hour-long piece. However the live melancholic music juxtaposed by recorded mechanical sounds was married with the artist's conceptualization and movements. Vasudev's effort to simplify an abstract piece was achieved through literal representation of emotions making the piece comprehendible  for a common man . The  choreography pleased  the eyes more like a beautiful painting than a movement performance, taking the audience's perception of visual art to a whole new level. 

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Kalaghoda - Why horse around with performers ?

Lack of technical and organizational support, disappoints performers at the festival

Kala Ghoda needs no introduction to an Indian artist. A prestigious  festival that takes place in Mumbai,  draws artists and art lovers from across the country is every artist's dream , at least that is what all my colleagues who performed there had to say. With great expectations of being part of such a festival,  I prepared myself with intense rehearsals , music, properties  and light design.

The performance that is normally held in the centre of Horniman Gardens in Mumbai  was held in a small park that was incredibly unclean and surround by traffic noise. The stage was erected just in time while the green rooms were being constructed till the performance began and there was absolutely no washroom facilities anywhere around the stage.Performers could not have a light rehearsal as the performance was scheduled to start at 5pm and the lights arrived only post lunch. Despite specifying in advance, the light design for a contemporary dance piece , it was a disappointing to see parcans and scanners being used like christmas lights. 

The 7th of February 2011, was an evening filled with performances where dance was merely reduced to entertainment . From Kuchipudi to Kathak , Bharatnatyam to Belly dance , Cinematic to jazz , classical to contemporary, everything was jam packed within a schedule of six hours. A group of young girls came on stage and rehearsed a dance piece to a bollywood number calling it contemporary dance. Every form including cinematic dance has its place and audience. Jumbling Indian Classical dance with Belly dance and Jazz could simply leave the audience in a haze.

My experience at the Kalaghoda festival was extremely disappointing. I had accepted to perform at the festival after being offered a pay that did not even cover my travel expenses. With no accommodation or hospitality, I was lost in a strange city. Though the curator of the evening was trying to be hospitable, there was not much she could do, due to lack of funds and weak organizational support. It seemed torturous to force myself to perform in a space that seemed more like a merry-go-around in a fair and I took a decision to not perform at all. 

Would a swimmer swim in an empty pool even if it were the Olympic games ? Would a pianist play a piano with broken keys?, then why is it that dancers compromise with what they need to perform. A wooden floor to prevent serious injuries , good lights to enhance the choreography or convey a concept ,  decent levels of cleanliness and a platform where the art is given its due respect are bare necessities and not luxuries.

Every performer has the right to demand for technical support and ideal performing conditions. The organizers have the responsibility to keep their word. It is important to know that it is impossible to force someone to perform in disagreeing circumstances  and the choice of performance always remains with the performing artist. 

Art & Bullshit at Attakkalari Biennial 2011

Attakkalari Biennial 2011, a ten day  International festival held in Bangalore between the of 28th January and the 6th of February featured some of the best contemporary work from across the globe. With high lights such as dance films, young choreographers platform, dance writing workshops, choreography laboratories, seminars and International collaborations,  the festival catered to the needs of contemporary artists and art lovers on multiple levels. the performance at Ranga Shankara on the third day of the festival was 'a mixed bill of 6 choreographic works that enabled the exchange of three artists from the UK and three Indian choreographers as part of the UK- India- Connecting through Cultural Programme

Uruvam', solo by Hemabharathy Palani developed under the auspice of the Robert Bosch Art Grant 2009 tried to focus on the theme of anguish and the giving up of one's body and sexual identity in order to access a greater range of rights and actions. She uses fabric as a symbolic representation of sexual identities as she sheds them one after another aiming to convince the spectators of a 'self' without a body and identity. Hema speaks with a  unique movement language that has strong and grounded technique in Kuchipudi and she executes every move with strength and poise. The music is characterized by the  clap of the Heijras or eunuchs while random meaningless projections by Matsuo Kunihiko ( Japanese digital artist)  adds  layers to this multi media piece.

The next piece begins with  someone from the audience throwing a piece of bread on stage. Perplexed! you look for the culprit who dared to perform this forbidden act. Its a young black man and he does it again and again . He staggers on to the stage, places a white plastic brick with a fake bird perched on it and talks to us in a British accent  interjected with bird calls.In  Freddie Opoku - Addaie's  solo ' A flightless solo' ,his chiseled body alights on his hands and he pecks on the food thrown on stage. He reads to us from a tiny book about the intellectuality of bullshit .  His movements are limited to finding bird food and partner work with  an inanimate object. "Producing, producing.." he chants while he distributes plastic bags to a few members of the audience who receive the crap given to them without questions or defense.Finally he proclaims that producing art is bullshit while the audience responds with laughter at his honesty. As a  spectator he dares to walk on stage to dissolve the transparent wall that exists between us. It did not matter if he was Black or British , he boldly voiced the contemporary state of art today. He did not question or pose a threat He just suspended the sword of sharp reality over our head.

'Rush' by Ajeesh . K . Balakrishnan's choreographic work, revolved around those bound by routine drudgery in a world devoid of imagination. The profundity of the concept was lost in the execution and the dance looked more like a section from a bollywood film with its cinematic music , bad costumes and overacting.

'Padheyam' choreographed by Santhosh V.S of Attakkalari Repertory was another example of amateur choreography where the dancers kept losing balance and control while lifting each other. A pathway of light was designed to weave on the ideas of journey and  encounters in life. The choreography hardly had any inventiveness with no importance assigned to the gestures of Bharatnatyam  that kept appearing randomly in the piece.

'Across the souvenir' by Alesandra Seutin was like a guided tour  through the choreographers' memories. A unique movement vocabulary that translated the rawness of her African origin, the visuals that transported the audience to the places she had visited and a surreal execution that gave an insight into her imagination.The concluding performance ' Single act'  was inspired by the personal experiences of British Lao choreographer Khamlane Halsackda .The fragmented narration was coupled  with a movement vocabulary  inspired by real-life situations.He recalls and shares his memories of  childhood, relationships and what love means to him and perhaps to each one of us.

6 diverse choreographic works stacked next to each other had a saturating effect on the audience. Many works had to be watched in isolation and a few pieces lacked depth and due research. While many performances delved into  issues of identity, sexuality , performance and individuality of the contemporary,  some of the amateur choreographers who were new to  exploration in choreographic work simply failed to represent the best of young Indian choreographers on this occasion.

Parivahitham- Dancing through trouble times

Photo courtesy- Shreekanth.L.Rao

Parivahitham- Dancing through trouble times

A Kolkata based dance company gave their best performance with almost no technical support at the performance space.

 In their latest Indo-Swiss production 'Parivahitham', Sapphire creations dance workshop, a Kolkata based dance company collaborated with Swiss musician, Marc Rossier resulting in a  marriage of music and movement. Artistic Director and Choreographer of the company ,Sudarshan Chakravorty presented his piece  with five of his company dancers on 19th of Dec 2010 in Bangalore at Freedom Park Amphi Theatre 

Slow and insightful , a  female dancer draws the audience into the piece with her solo, where she awakens every cell of her body  preparing it for a  long journey ahead of her and the music becomes a reflection of her state of being. The piece introduced every individual through solos that translated  their personal discomfort into their bodies. Movements drawn from physical disabilities, pain and emotional fluctuations highlight the piece. It gradually picks up momentum with strong lines and gestures of Bharatanatyam subjected to suspension and velocity,  interwoven with handstands, cartwheels, rolls , falls and partner work. 

Many sections done in unison looked superimposed on the dancers and the lack of strong technique in Bharatnatyam  is very transparent in the performers. The  dancers Paramita Saha, Dibyendu Nath, Nikita Bhattacharya and Koushik Das though seemed a bit self indulgent at times had a lovely stage presence and executed the piece with confidence, while Ankita Duttagupta simply kept the audience engaged throughout the piece with  her beautiful lines and strong focus. In India Choreographic work  that features a strong classical movement vocabulary subjected to various western movement techniques is not a new concept anymore, however the piece had its moments of magic when every dancer's individuality characterized by a unique music score surfaced brilliantly in the piece.

Music in contemporary dance has almost become synonymous with orchestrated sounds and noise. Live music can be wonderful expressive tool adding to the intensity of a piece to truly explore the magic of 'live' performance.

It was  Marc's first collaboration with an Indian company and he came sans expectations to work with Sapphire Creations. Though he was not part of the entire creative process, he stepped into the piece when the choreography was completely set and composed music based on discussions with the choreographer and watching rehearsals. He observed every dancer and played  based on the emotional essence of the choreography.He played his guitar with rhythmic patterns playing in tandem with the dancers and also going against the flow of movement.His music was another fixed dancer on stage where composition interacted with choreography through harmony, contrast and silence.

The lack of technical support at the Freedom park Amphi theatre disintegrated the sections that were designed to be done in specific lights. The lack of wooden floor made the dancers move cautiously for they had to prevent themselves from getting injured on a hard concrete floor. The acoustics required for an open space were absent, making Marc's job much more difficult. The piece  designed for a proscenium theatre space failed to make an impact on the audience due to lack of appropriate lights and sound. 'Parivahitham'  aimed to explore movement  through  troubled times  hoping for a constructive, positive and meaningful time in the near future and their performance with deficient organization at the venue allowed them to  literally experience the essence of the piece.