Dancing with DNA Danceworks of Kolkata, India
I was a lucky dancer to teach at a studio created by such innovators in Kolkata. Check out this video of some of their teachers. I got to do a little cameo on the bridge. It should also be mentioned that this was primarily shot between the hours of 4am and 7am across the eclectic city. Morning dance adventure.
Me encantaron los colores.
Lone path…
Shot taken from Botanical Garden #kolkata #India #nature #garden #trees #natured #awesome #instagram
(from @let_it_b_stalin on Streamzoo)
One of my first published reviews in The Telegraph, India on 04.03.08.
Synergy on stageA production fuses film, multimedia and theatre to tell a refreshingly original story.
Video, the second production by Tin Can, an up-and-coming performance group, was an exciting and interesting miscellany of film, theatre and dance that focused around the dark underbelly of Indian youth culture. As the audience took their seats at the G.D. Birla Sabhaghar on Saturday, smoke machines and Underworld’s classic electronica track Born Slippy instantly created a gritty atmosphere that permeated through the rest of the play.
The original script, written by Soumyak Kanti De Biswas, one of the company’s two founders, has many elements but focuses on two seemingly unrelated young men in Mumbai and Calcutta, and their struggles in life. The dialogue was split between English, Hindi and Bengali, but the entire ensemble used body language brilliantly to convey moments of despair or comedy. In many scenes, dialogue was a secondary feature to the inspired use of various multimedia, such as black-and-white projections and strobe lighting; the latter used to great effect in making a fight scene very realistic.
The play opened with a direct address from one of the main characters, bringing the audience into the action. A rowdy party scene followed, the first example of strong juxtaposition of energy and pace that continued throughout the play, keeping it fresh and exciting. Another scene in the montage had a deep exchange between two friends frozen at a suspenseful moment as characters dressed in soldier uniforms appeared under spotlights, talking in amusing, stereotypically posh English accents. This was a wonderful moment of self-referential post-modernism as they discussed the frozen scene and the concept of suspense. A following scene comprising of dancers in the dark, save some UV lights, was visually stimulating.
The play proficiently brought together many styles of theatre; one scene was very clearly inspired by Beckett’s Waiting For Godot. Other scenes used torches, dhakis, live singing and even an old-fashioned magic show. Some symbolism was unclear and references to drugs and gun culture may have bordered on glamourising these two themes, but the play was a creative and astute representation of modern life for young Indians.
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The writer of Video and co-founder of Tin Can recently staged a new work entitled ‘If what I hear is true’ at The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick, London. Review of this piece to follow.
I thought I had seen poverty before I got to Kolkata. Here it’s so extreme, and so in your face it was a shock for both of us. Something like 40% of India is below the international poverty line. There’s literally people (and dogs) at varying stages of starvation at every other corner. I couldn’t…
