Watch nine performers hypnotise the audiences as they channel their inner beasts and dance at an edgy contemporary act
A scene from the performance in 2016 presented as a work-in-progress. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
We feel like we've ventured into an animal kingdom when we step into a rehearsal hall at Khar's Nateshwar Bhavan. Though there are no make-believe props, striped costumes or headgear with protruding horns, nine students of the Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company channel the animal spirits perfectly, which includes the stances of an ape, rabbit, snake, tiger, elephant and parrot, replete with roars, grunts and caws. Their eagle-eyed mentor, David Zambrano, watches from the sidelines, once in a while perfecting a posture or hand gesture.
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David Zambrano
The Venezuelan choreographer and educator, who has been making dance for over 30 years and is renowned globally for his dance technique, Flying Low, is in town to mentor the nine students, who will take to the stage on Sunday to perform a 60-minute production titled, The Kamshet Project: The Beauty Within The Beast as part of Jugnee Indo-Contemporary Dance Festival.
Terence Lewis
Conceived and directed by Terence Lewis, the performance weaves together contemporary dance with physical theatre, exploring the dark side of human nature. "The piece was born out of a month-long residency that I undertook with the students last year in Kamshet. We were isolated from the world and experienced a process of understanding and analysing our personalities," recalls Lewis, who had also summoned a Mandala artist, psychic, tarot reader, hypnotist and counsellor to aid the process.
During the residency, the students were asked to rechristen themselves by choosing a name, pick an animal they related with and recollect three painful and pleasurable memories from their childhood. All these elements have been channelled into the performance. "The audience will see nine personalities on stage. We will also create a hypnotic environment at the start of the performance, where the audience will be asked to identify with a dancer and follow his/her journey through the show to gain answers regarding their own personality type. It's a provocative and thought-provoking production, and this exercise makes it participative too," says Lewis.
Students rehearse the piece, The Kamshet Project. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
While a rough sketch of the production was performed last year as a work-in-progress, Lewis invited Zambrano this time to perfect the act to bring it on par with international standards. "He is my mentor and someone I am highly inspired by," he says.
Use of space is an important part of the performance, something that the students learnt from Zambrano's Flying Low technique, where they glide on the floor, twist their bodies to roll on the smooth surface, mainly using their upper body, instead of hands or legs. These edgy movements ("they are fast, so they can break your body if you don't perform correctly," says Lewis) help enhance the performance.
"This time, the performance is more compact. Flying Low is a specific method to slide on the floor and get up, which makes you look like you're flying close to the ground," shares the improviser, who created this technique as a result of foot injuries, over 30 years ago. "I didn't want to stop dancing, so I decided to roll over the floor and later, began teaching the method too. While there are different levels to the technique, anyone can practise it. I have even taught students who are physically challenged."
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