Not with a bang but a whimper!
The title of Aangik’s contemporary dance show ‘RASA—Enigma of Black & White’ held enough promise to pull a huge crowd at Lamakaan on the eve of 3rd September 2011. Anticipation arose when the leaflets offered an alternative definition of Rasa through the Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang and was a welcome relief from the done-to-death Navarasa theory. However nature played its sinister best and the show was delayed by more than an hour due to rains. RASA, as promised, began with the felicitation of Dr. Anada Shankar Jayant who managed to hold a rather impatient audience with her highly informative and interesting introductory talk on the history of contemporary dance. The spectacular performance began with Arunima’s depiction of the Serene, denoted by her scintillating white costume. Arunima danced gracefully in the Giesha style to a Chinese(reminded me of Kung Fu Panda!) music piece. But soon enough, the movements became repetitive with stock contemporary motifs. The male dancers’ failed attempt at Kalaripayattu and use of clichéd props like elastic belts to signify the tension between good and evil made the performance rather ordinary. The juxtaposition of white against black, feminine against masculine and beautiful against bestial remained rather incomplete within the short span of the main dance show which lasted a little more than fifteen minutes. The only saving grace was Krishna Shukla’s light design and a sequence which used the ‘Chhau’ folk dance style using masks made by Tirthadip Ghosh. An insatiate audience left the show which was ‘full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’.
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