Dance Review: inDANCE, a Monsoon Rain of “Fabulousness”

There was an inDANCE monsoon last night in NYC…. and it rained "fabulousness" all over SoHo.

Hari Krishnan, the choreographer of inDANCE, creates a spectacular palette of creative choreography, color, and costume.  inDANCE is a Bharatanatyam inspired Contemporary Canadian Dance Company made up of a beautifully eclectic group of dancers that have a fierce understanding of both South Asian dance and classical contemporary technique, creating a brand new vocabulary never quite seen by the likes of your typical Manhattan audience.  inDANCE performed and premiered five gorgeous pieces Friday night at the Joyce SoHo.  I am so glad I was there to experience it!

The first duet, entitled INVERSE, begins simply and typically enough, soloist facing upstage slowly moving through space creating a vocabulary that at first totally turned me off; I was like, oh here we go again, inaccessible, boring modern dance that I am forced to sit through… UGH!   But, just a few short minutes later, I am wrapped in by Hiroshi Miyamoto and Beth Despres’s command and control of their bodies, their technique, and their hypnotizing power that they have over the audience.  It is creative and fun.  Hand gestures decorating gorgeous jumps charging through space paralyzing the audience. . .  It is a beautiful and unique piece that continues to get better and better until the blackout, leaving you wanting just one second more.

BOX is the second piece, another duet, but this one is accompanied by live musicians.  AWESOME is all I can say!  BOX features two daring and masterful soloists performing the same captivating choreography in unison.  The difference: one soloist is dressed in full classical Indian regalia, the other is dressed in simple black rehearsal clothes, (think downtown modern battles it out with Slumdog Millionaire).   It is such a cool way to see Bharatanatyam danced as it should be dressed, and, as it can be dressed when it meets with today’s sensibilities.  Simple, powerful and effective.  I would have never thought of it.

The third piece OWNING SHADOWS, is my favorite piece of the evening.   Another duet, this one derives from the ancient epic, “Ramayana.”  Starting off, the dancers are shrouded beneath a cloak reflecting the theatrical lighting in a way that makes it look like a vibrant moving stream; then, with a sudden light change, it is made to appear like a dried up ocean, hard, cold and desolate.  The movement begins slowly, and builds into a tightly woven duet, until they end up downstage right, back-to-back, barely lit.  The dancers slowly revolve around each other and quietly rotate to the upstage left corner, totally stunning and unlike any effect, carrying power and metaphor.  It is the most inspiring moment of the evening; I am thrilled to have experienced what is magically created by the dancers and the choreography.  Hari Krishnan manages to seamlessly create an epic out of the epic that inspires him.  Thank you for that and congratulations!!!!

The last two pieces are just fun, tongue-in-cheek pieces.  MEA CULPA, set to Rossini against the drums of Gowri Shankar, is a solo inspired by a picture of Ted Shawn’s 1926 work, The Cosmic Dance of Shiva.   It is silly, showy and perfectly married to both Rossini’s horse racing music and the juxtaposing drums (ooo a big boy word… watch out S.A.T.’s).  Krishnan could not have picked a better place in the program for the lightness that Mea Culpa lends to the evening.

The last piece, BOLLYWOOD HOPSCOTCH, is a well crafted group piece pointing out Bollywood’s effect on the world’s impression of what Indian dance is:  contemporary movement, urban influence, layered with black-and-white Bollywood clips.  Bollywood Hopscotch is a great way to end the evening, uplifting, fast paced, exciting and colorful –especially with the glo-necklaces from Six Flags glowing after the blackout!  BRILLIANT!!

inDANCE is a great budding company, with an intelligent, well spoken, clear, concise, and creative choreographer.   I expect to be seeing a great things and a great deal more of them and hopefully soon.   For now though, they will be finishing their run at the Joyce Soho this weekend….. catch them before they head back to Canada.

Photography by Cylla von Tiedemann

iDANZ Critix Corner 
Official Dance Review by Dante Puleio
Performance: inDANCE
Choreographer:  Hari Krishnan
Venue:  Joyce SoHo, New York City
Date:  April 3,1009
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