Reaching new heights

Contemporary Moves

Even as people trickled in, the lights of Chowdiah Memorial Hall dimmed and the walls began to move.

Yet another year of ‘Attakkalari India Biennial’ began with a bang. The audience were ushered to the parking lot, where a projector lit up the side walls.

It was the work of Daniel Belton, the opening act for the dance festival. He is a New Zealand-based choreographer and filmmaker with the ‘Good Company Arts’ and enjoys projecting dances on buildings.

He said, “We might observe the link between a building and the human body as having some parallels; both are vessels, both contain and radiate a spirit. Everything is moving, archiving and transmitting.

So when we come to dialogue with an architectural structure such as a wall or building facade the experience can shift beyond a mere reading of form or light and sound.

We are projecting new energy onto and into the structure which naturally becomes a conversation with the past, the present (audience), and even forwards, in that the work can suggest possible future for the building themselves.”

The constellations and the cosmos came alive on the wall as two dancers gracefully intertwined around each other (and everyone around) in an engaging performance. The digital performance made the starry skies a bit more reachable.

The follow-up to this was a performance by the ‘Tao Dance Theater’. Even as people filed into the auditorium, the Chinese group began its two-part show.

Titled ‘4’ and ‘5’ (for the number of dancers in each choreography), the dancers moved with precision and worked as a cohesive unit throughout.

In ‘4’, the dancers were dressed in shades of grey and had covered their faces. From one end of the stage to another they moved, without missing a beat or breaking away from the pack.

They ceased to be individual performers until the end of the performance. In ‘5’, they neatly entangled themselves in a complicated game of ‘Twister’. No one knew whose limbs belonged to whom.

The dancers of Tao were flexible – it almost seemed like they had no bones. They were rewarded with a rousing applause.

Ashish said that they intrigued him philosophically. “It was nice because they could be interpreted in different ways.” Vidya adds, “I was still getting settled in, so ‘4’ didn’t sit with me as well as ‘5’.” 

At Ranga Shankara, the ‘Alexander Whitley Dance Company’ performed the next night. The group from UK performed a 45-minute piece which was choreographed by Alexander Whitley.

Using a mix of digital work, playful lights, music that stands out and a troupe of skilled dancers, Alexander managed to make many fans out of the audience. They were impressive with their moves.