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Dance Expressions
Sapphire Creations Dance Workshop presented Interface 2004 - an international festival of alternative and contemporary expression at Kalamandir, Kolkata from 9th - 13th March 2004. This festival is a biennial event covering the disciplines of music, dance, theatre, visual arts and all possible interactions between these disciplines. It is the only International Art Event in the whole of Eastern India. |
| The inaugural
day began with a performance titled "Dance Expressions " by the most phenomenal,
renowned and widely performed contemporary dancer of India, Astad Deboo.
He is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Creative Dance and
the only contemporary performer to participate in orthodox classical festivals
like Elephanta and Khajuraho Dance Festival. His ongoing work with the
Action Players, a deaf theatre company from Kolkata and other deaf and
dumb children around the world has been most successful. Astad’s performance,
though it started later than the scheduled time, was spell binding. A very
sober musical background added sufficient mood.
The exquisite light design by Sunil Shanbag highlighting the body movements very subtly helped the packed audience understand how dance is all about movement of every limb of the body. Specially, the hand movements with each finger conveying its own expression were a treat to the eyes. The footwork was another aspect, which showcased the usage of body and space in spectacular manner. Truly, Astad’s style was a fine culmination of the exuberance of narrative forms and the cerebral intensity of contemporary abstraction. It was heartening to see a whole band of youngsters anchoring the show. As Astad said in his speech, when he had started practicing contemporary dance four decades ago, he was a loner. Today, it was a welcome sign to see so many youngsters taking to this as a profession. The next dance
was by USA based Thresh Dance Company and they presented "Strings Unattached".
This was a series of three contemporary pieces that have the stringed instrument
as the main musical accompaniment. The three pieces were quite independent
of each other in their context but the commonality of the musical instrument
as strings held them as the evening’s ensemble work. The artistic director
for this show was Preethi Vasudevan who is well trained in all systems
of dance and also a creditable performer and choreographer. Light design
was by Marcus Doshi. The dancer included Preethi, Denesa Chan and Joy Havens.
Radha Bhaskar is the editor of Samudhra magazine and an accomplished vocalist. |
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