Dancing feat

Dhrut by SNDA

As NCPA readies to present the Contemporary Dance Season 2016, the stage is set for a spectacle with each master executing a unique theme. The line-up features Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts (SNDA), Kathak exponent Sanjukta Sinha and the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. In December, the likes of Ashley Lobo and Astad Deboo will bring things to a memorable ending.

Dancers from the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts

What to expect
The season will begin with Dhrut, conceptualised by SNDA. The act that was recently part of Erasing Borders Dance Festival in New York will now be showcased in long format. "When excerpts are performed, people only appreciate us as dancers, enjoy the movement vocabulary and not the act as a whole, and many of them don't get the storyline," shares Nagdev. "We performed an excerpt at the festival; this time, we have fine-tuned it further and added two sections," he informs. The piece is a portrayal of the intricate relationship between time, space and speed.

A dancer from Ashley Lobo's troupe

Sinha, a Kathak dancer, will present her first large contemporary production as part of the festival. Titled Kin and produced by Ice Craft, it will feature three solo acts Illumine, Id and Incede - directed by three choreographers. "It is a concept by Farooq Chaudhary, the producer for the Akram Khan Dance Company. He saw me perform Kathak in Liverpool two years ago, and suggested that my body language would lend itself to forms like Contemporary well," says Sinha, who has collaborated with British artistes and technicians for the performance. It has been choreographed by legendary Kathak dancer Kumudini Lakhia, UK-based Akash Odedera and Israel-based Miriam Peretz. The sequences portray three different women in varied moods including devotion, negativity and longing for her lover.

Astad Deboo

The third performance of the season, AadharaChakra (cycle of the soul) - A Dancelogue , is a hybrid act, weaving in multiple disciplines such as movement, film, light, plastic, multimedia design and sound. The dancers from the Bengaluru-based Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts will embody characters from diverse Indian locales and period, set in an imagined land. The act brings alive the essence of domestic life in a traditional Chettinad home, sacred rituals in a Shiva temple, and the flavours of a spice market where the audience is invited to participate in a ritualised experience.

Sanjukta Sinha

"The piece was created in 2012 and performed at Delhi's Purana Killa. We will be performing in Mumbai for the first time," says director Jayachandran Palazhy. "The idea was to look at urbanisation. Architecture for me is a repository of memories and experiences, while people are temporary bearers of those memories. The piece is also about the conversation visitors have with these memories," he adds. The hour-long performance will include nine dancers and music composed by two German soundscape artistes.

There's more
In December, Sangeet Natak Akademi winner and Padma Shri Astad Deboo will explore his creation - Eternal Embrace, an original dance inspired by the poem Maati written by Sufi Poet Hazrat Bulleh Shah. Embodying the poem's central theme, Japanese composer and performer Yukio Tsuji has composed the original score and will also perform with Deboo, who will also be conducting a workshop as part of the season.

The finale will come from Ashley Lobo, founder, Navdhara India Dance Theatre and The Danceworx. His performance, Agni, will take the audience on a journey of fire as the dancers will use Lobo's Prana Paint technique. "I developed the technique a few years ago. The idea is to paint with energies. The technique is based on breath. You listen to your body and form the movements based on it," reveals Lobo, taking time off in the middle of rehearsals. Agni will premiere at the NCPA before its international premiere at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in Israel.

From: November 3 to December 22
At: NCPA, Nariman Point.
Call: 66223724
Log on to: www.bookmyshow.com