Presented by Adelaide Festival Centre and the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company
Reviewed Friday 28th September 2012
Choreographer and dancer, Aditi Mangaldas, has brought two contrasting works to the OzAsia Festival. She founded her company twenty years ago and they have just performed at the Edinburgh Festival for the third time, prior to this visit. The first piece, Uncharted Seas, is rooted in the traditional Kathak style of dance from Northern India, while the second, Timeless, is a contemporary work that uses Kathak as its basis, but explores new, expanded techniques and ideas.
The Hindi word Kathak means ‘to tell a story’, and this is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. There are three major schools, or gharanas, within this form and this one comes from Jaipur. It has its origins in the nomadic storytellers, and they are mentioned in writings going back as the 3rd and 4th centuries BC.
The tradition covers more than just the dance movements, such as always having the palms of the hands facing either the sky or the earth. It includes the costuming and, of course, the all important ghunghroo, or ankle bells. Kathak was originally a solo style of dancing but Mangaldas has choreographed the first work for her entire ensemble, which means that exceptional precision is required of all of the dancers in order to keep rhythmic sounds of the bells accurately in time. There is a great deal of exciting movement in this dance style, with increasing tempi and the fast spins, performed on the heels rather than the toes or balls of the feet as is done in ballet and other western dances.
As well as the fast foot movements, setting up the intricate bell rhythms, rapid hand and arm movements and brief moments when the dancers freeze in position, in a a tableaux, before progressing to the next part of the dance, there are also times when the hands are held aloft with the back of the wrists touching. One see hints of another familiar dance, reminding us that it was the Romani, or gypsies, who travelled in northern India that took these Kathak dance movements into Spain, where they were adopted and adapted to become that iconic Spanish dance, the Flamenco.
In this first piece, the dancers make great use of light and shadow, beginning in darkness lit only by candles in small holders that start facing the audience and, eventually, are turned to light the faces of the performers. The dancers use areas that are lit and others that are not, moving in and out of shadows, symbolically travelling on their search through the Uncharted Waters, searching for something intangible, whether that be God, truth or, perhaps, ourselves.
The dancers are accompanied by three excellent musicians, one playing tabla, the well known pair of drums, another playing the pakhawaj, a long, two headed, barrel shaped drum that gives high notes from the smaller head at one end, and lower at the other, with the third musician playing harmonium, sarangi, a bowed string instrument, and vocals. The second piece adds recorded music, from a larger ensemble, coupled with more live music from these three.
In Timeless, many esoteric question are asked, such as: “what is time?”, “are there different types of time?”, “how does time work?”, ”can we change time?”, “is time linear, or circular, or something else again?” and more. The ghunghroo are not worn in this work, and the traditional costumes give way to simpler grey tunics, cit so that the feet and ankles can be more easily seen. Watching their feet, hearing the different sounds created by stepping onto the balls of the feet or onto the heels, the origins of Flamenco can be seen even more clearly. Raising the arms and placing the backs of the writs together is also more noticeable, further confirming that link.
The contemporary dance form still draws heavily on the traditional and is not so far removed that its origins are unrecognisable. The differences are subtle: changes to the structure of the form, and extensions to the techniques. It was a most enlightening contrast to the traditional piece yet, in spite of its modernity, still maintaining a grace, a strong narrative quality, and technical aspects that are the attraction of the traditional form. This production was extremely well received by the audience and this company will certainly be welcome again.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
Venue: Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide
Season: 8pm Sat 29th September 2012
Duration: 1hr 45mins (incl intvl)
Tickets: adult $45/conc $40/student $25
Bookings: BASS 131 246 or here
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