Out of India: Modern Moves, dance review – India, but not as you know it

There are no classical steps and stories of ancient gods here,, says Lyndsey Winship. Instead, a trio of pieces give us a glimpse of an art form grappling with India’s contemporary identity
Conviction and control: Hemabharathy Palani in her solo piece, Trikonanga
Arvind Sridhar
Lyndsey Winship22 October 2015

Four men jiggling their bellies in a pile on the floor; two guys in high-vis jackets snaking their bodies; a woman filling her mouth with water and spewing it out in gushing waterfalls — this is not what we expect when we think of Indian dance.

There are no classical steps and stories of ancient gods here, no formation Bollywood routines. Instead, a trio of pieces give us a glimpse of an art form grappling with India’s contemporary identity.

Dancer Hemabharathy Palani takes a journey from tradition to modernity in Trikonanga.

She begins with classical poise, but her smooth circling lines soon falter and she sheds that skin, transforming from benign goddess into an earthly person of frustration, urgency and anxiety. It’s a real fall from grace, but proves Palani a performer of conviction and control. The male experience, as evidenced in the evening’s other two pieces, seems to hinge mostly on casual violence. In Nerves, by Surjit Nongmeikapam, this starts on screen, with footage of angry demonstrations from the troubled region of Manipur, and spills over onto the stage.

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The men dodge the steel toe caps of heavy work boots swinging from the ceiling, and then artfully lay into each other with martial arts moves. It’s a life of daily aggression and oppression, Nongmeikapam seems to be saying.

Urbanisation is the enemy in Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy’s NH7, where the pair of dancers manage to convey the sense of purpose and purposelessness of the city’s daily grind, one which descends into bullying conflict.

In these short tasters it’s hard to get deeply into the subject matter or the minds of their creators, but if not completely compelling, it’s an interesting snapshot.

Until October 24 (020 7257 9384, danceumbrella.co.uk)

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