A great title for a great project. Curry, one of my favourite foods, and the spicier the better. Metaphorically taking the idea of making a curry for the development of a dance production, Canadian based Indance, in a co-commission with Birmingham UK based Sampad have mixed up just the right quantity of ingredients to produce a series of contemporary performances rooted in South Asian traditions of Bharatanatyam. The question the crew asked of themselves at the outset was “what makes a good curry?”. From this they developed a number of themes that they explored through movement such as identity and crisis of identity, longing for the homeland, as well as a range of other themes and words to illustrate what curry meant for them. These ideas were then illustrated through a number of workshops over a three week period to look at the individual elements of the production.
The production was made up of dancers from across the globe, each bringing their own contexts and opinions on the theme, and making connections with the notion of identity. Participating artists came from Japan, China, Canada, the UK and other parts of Europe, and as one artist perfectly articulated, “it is about how we are made as a whole and how we come together as one.”
The fusion of contemporary and traditional forms is often much debated and at times difficult to achieve with dance forms being stronger in either one or the other styles. In this case however, from viewing a film of the project at a recent presentation, I’m convinced that the mix of forms worked well. There were some really creative contemporary elements to the work that were performed seemingly effortlessly but with obvious influences, or spices, of South Asian styles.
It was premiered at Canada’s premiere theatre at the Harbourfront Centre on the banks of Lake Ontario in 2007. They are now planning to undertake a small UK tour at some point in the near future.
Indance choreographer: Hari Krishnan
http://www.indance.ca/home_new.html (video available)
http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/
El mejor curry, el del “Fanástico”