We R Dancing - A Two Day Dance Festival

Aalokam presents We R Dancing - A Two Day Dance Festival

WE R DANCING is a new initiative by Aalokam Dance Productions that inaugurates the first in the series of festivals organized annually. We plan to invite artists from the U.S. and abroad and encourage dancers to present traditional forms with a twist or innovation in movement and dance vocabulary.

On May 7th Aalokam inaugurates the first of its festivals, curated by Maya Kulkarni at Symphony Space. It will be an occasion for several firsts. I Dance, Thus I Am, Impossible Romance, and Medea’s Passion are all-new dance pieces to be premiered on May 7th. We have a superb lineup of artists and dance styles. In I Dance thus I Am, Jin Won, an excellent Kathak artist unfolds the inner longing of a dancer to dance the rhythm of her soul free of the rule-bound world of conventions and dance techniques. The famous thumri Babul Mora Naihar Chooto Jaye stands as a metaphor for this longing. Steeped in Odissi dance form, Kaustavi Sarkar weaves the fantasy tale of an Impossible Romance in which pranks go awry, mischief leads to tragedy. It is a fable-like story about a wicked peacock, and a naively boastful cloud leaving the audience to draw their conclusions. Swathi Atluri showcases the best of Kuchipudi in Krishna My Love. Combining dance and drama techniques, she draws the complex character of Satyabhama, a flirtatious and vain creature whose boasts hide a deep longing for Krishna. In Medea’s Passion, Mesma Belsare brings to life the mythic queen Medea, as portrayed by Eugene Delacroix in his famous painting of the savage princess. Medea’s Passion is a study in contrasts, tender love and jealousy, rage, and extreme pain leading to sorcery and murder.

Sarkar’s Impossible Romance and Belsare’s Medea’s Passion are set in the Shilpanatanam dance vocabulary developed by Maya Kulkarni.