Using different media and depicting a concept, set in an imaginative land that kept oscillating between the past and the present, 'AadhaaraChakra a Dancelogue' — A journey across intangible spaces', a dance-drama production by Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, was performed at Ravindra Kalakshetra recently.
With a fragmented narrative, the performance directed by Jayachandran Palazhy, had dancers embody characters from diverse backgrounds and time periods. The play which began with performers walking from the audience to the stage with loud blaring horns, to the end where the performers stood still, was a new experience for one and all.
Celluloid images accompanied the scenes on the stage, where dancers often replicating the images in the background, seemed like they jumped right out of the screen. Scenes included in the performance on the celluloid images, showed a small village with jasmine vendors, vegetable sellers, bangle shops and tricycles. This scene was replicated with the same as background, by a few performers dressed as vendors with their baskets, driving a tri-cycle on stage. Loud music from temples and mosques, with cricket commentaries blended into an urban Indian mixture of shrill sounds, on the stage.
This production that tried to depict all of what one can call the Indian flavour, included scenes from a traditional Chettinad house, sacred rituals held at a Shiva temple, the spice markets, narrow alleys of old Delhi, the Qutub Minar and the Humayun's Tomb. With changing lights, and varying use of textile that split the screen and created various effects, the performance had many things unique to it.
This spellbinding performance had music composed by Sam Auinger and Martin Lutz, who included modulated Indian classical music, hawkers cries and popular cinematic strains. The filmic images were shot by Rupert Schwarzbauer, and the architectural spaces were by Dominic Dube. Ken Furudate's digital designs and the costumes that matched the performance by Sanchita and Jyoti Sachdev, added to the aesthetics of the performance.
"Amazing rendition from the house of Attakkalari, the performance had a lot of layered meanings to it that need to be explored and thought of in detail. A walk through the past and the present together, this performance has many things this City might have not seen elsewhere," said Suchitra K, a dancer.
With a fragmented narrative, the performance directed by Jayachandran Palazhy, had dancers embody characters from diverse backgrounds and time periods. The play which began with performers walking from the audience to the stage with loud blaring horns, to the end where the performers stood still, was a new experience for one and all.
Celluloid images accompanied the scenes on the stage, where dancers often replicating the images in the background, seemed like they jumped right out of the screen. Scenes included in the performance on the celluloid images, showed a small village with jasmine vendors, vegetable sellers, bangle shops and tricycles. This scene was replicated with the same as background, by a few performers dressed as vendors with their baskets, driving a tri-cycle on stage. Loud music from temples and mosques, with cricket commentaries blended into an urban Indian mixture of shrill sounds, on the stage.
This production that tried to depict all of what one can call the Indian flavour, included scenes from a traditional Chettinad house, sacred rituals held at a Shiva temple, the spice markets, narrow alleys of old Delhi, the Qutub Minar and the Humayun's Tomb. With changing lights, and varying use of textile that split the screen and created various effects, the performance had many things unique to it.
This spellbinding performance had music composed by Sam Auinger and Martin Lutz, who included modulated Indian classical music, hawkers cries and popular cinematic strains. The filmic images were shot by Rupert Schwarzbauer, and the architectural spaces were by Dominic Dube. Ken Furudate's digital designs and the costumes that matched the performance by Sanchita and Jyoti Sachdev, added to the aesthetics of the performance.
"Amazing rendition from the house of Attakkalari, the performance had a lot of layered meanings to it that need to be explored and thought of in detail. A walk through the past and the present together, this performance has many things this City might have not seen elsewhere," said Suchitra K, a dancer.