Shunya
Se is a choreographic presentation in Kathak inspired by the five elements
in Indian thought: shunya-space, vayu-air, agni-fire, jal-water, prithvi-earth.
Shunya Se, in conception and range, reaches beyond the understanding of choreography
as a part of dance terminology. It is approached here as designing space using
dance, movement, spatial elements in staging, light, sound, music, costume,
colour, scenography and theatricality. All these aspects come together to
create a presentation both panoramic in scope and personal in experience.
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The choreography
sought to delve into the forms of Kathak and re-emerged with movements that
were startlingly modern and experimental.
It was almost as if the essence of the form was extracted and blended with
the flexibility of ballet to arrive at movements that were graceful and evocative
at the same time.
The Hindustan
Times, Calcutta
October 2003
mesmerising
The Time of India, Calcutta
September 2003
8 March 2000: The Surya Hotel, Chennai. We had just finished a celebratory dinner after having come to the end of our four-day tour in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. There was a live band from Goa playing there that evening. The music was a fine blend of melody and rhythm, but the dance floor was depressingly empty. Suddenly, we were overtaken by an urge to dance, notwithstanding our two-hour performance earlier that evening. Instantly the floor was overrun with dancers. Not to be outdone, the musicians scrambled up from their chairs and joined the group. Soon the whole company was out in full force. We created dance and music there that was of the moment, that lived and died in that brief spell of (what some may call) madness, it burst out of us from within – the joy of movement, the joy of sound, the joy of being a performer, the joy of injecting magic into an empty space – the fleeting and uncertain magic of live performance.
Vikram Iyengar
(Taken
from the programme brochure of the premiere show)of
Shunya Se, September 2003)