|
May 2002
"Auroville is dancing"
- by Tim
The above was the
announcement heralding Auroville's first ever Festival of Dance on
March 30th, a wonderful evening inclusive of everything from
classical Indian dances to Spanish, jazz, ballet, hip-hop,
Afro-funk and improvisational modern dance plus freestyle
aerobics, all choreographed in Auroville, and performed by more
than 15 groups - around 100 dancers! - ranging in age from young
children (the first half of the programme) to mature adults (the
second half). The audience, jam-packed into the 850-seat Sri
Aurobindo Auditorium, was absolutely marvellous: an enthusiastic -
often excited - mixture of Aurovilians and local villagers, many
of whose children or friends were performing.
As this was the first
time for many of the performers that they had appeared on stage
before an audience, some were naturally very nervous beforehand.
This situation was not helped by the fact that the first rehearsal
three days before the event was a bit of a shambles, leaving many
worried as to what lay ahead. However, the second rehearsal - with
costumes - was much more coherent. Finally, on the night itself,
everything seemed to fall into place, from the lighting and stage
work to Grace's informal and enjoyable coordinating/announcing
role and the dancing, probably inspired by the wonderful audience,
who spurred the performers on and made them feel that their long
period of intensive preparation - in some cases as long as a year
- had all been worthwhile.
In a long programme
lasting over three hours it seems a bit unfair to highlight
individual numbers, because ALL were enjoyable, but from the
audience's reaction it seemed a few had special popular appeal.
Among these one has to mention from the first half of the
programme the Spanish Sevillanas performed by Jivatma and
Suryamayi, the Tamil children's 'Kolattam' folk dance with sticks,
and the last item, 'Thillani', to modern Indian music, the latter
two both performed with exceptional precision and grace. Then in
the second half of the programme there was Aurelio's group with
their dynamic 'Dance Collage', the classic Odissi dances of
Srimoyi and Jothi, and Bharatanatyam of Blanchefleur (the latter
showing that a Westerner can also acquire the skills to put on a
good performance), the modern jazz dance 'Warriors of Nature' with
accompanying film shot by Brian in Utilité canyon, 'The Black
Cats' aerobics team number led by Bobby (performing with a broken
toe!), and the final beautiful and innovative 'net' number with
Jutta, Daria, Aurosylle and Veronique to mysterious, stirring
music.
As to the performers,
their experience seems well summed up by one of the participants:
"We had the tremendous fun of working with our fellow
performers towards a shared common goal, and the joy of achieving
it after so many high energy practice sessions and so much fun and
laughter. The sense of being a closely knit team and of succeeding
together was, for those of us who had never done anything like it
before, just fantastic, really euphoric, a memory to treasure all
our lives. In fact I know from talking with others that we
remained on a 'high' for days afterwards as a result of what we
experienced."
As an event intended
to help Auroville integrate, through increased understanding and
appreciation of each other's art and culture as experienced
through numbers ranging from ballet to Bharatanatyam, it was a
resounding success; a fun, fun, fun evening and milestone in
Auroville's cultural history; a night to remember for all those
who took part on stage or in the audience; and a night when Shiva
himself, as Lord of the Dance, seemed to make His presence felt
among us.
Thank you Grace.
Thank you everyone.
|
