Grace and melody in bite-sized chunks

East and West converge in the harmony of music and dance, both traditional and contemporary

Sculpturesque poses and graceful transitions from the representation of one form to another started the evening off with a sense of peace and wellbeing. The solo Kathak piece Nritta by Shruti began as a trickle of bells, increasing to a stream of dance syllables, and finished with a torrent of rhythm.

Intense use of body language brought to life the myth of Narcissus. As the predicament of the drowning Narcissus was traced alongside the significant moments of the artist’s life against the background of a visual of swirling images, one could see the evolution of the self through time.

Dance Bites 2013 featured dancers and musicians from the east and the west, and dance styles both traditional and contemporary. The evening started with a Vandana performed by Aruna Gandhimathinathan and Shruti Ghosh, where the dancers seek the grace of the supreme Almighty in

Aruna’s solo in the Bharathanatyam style, a Jathiswaram in Ragam Rasali featured a variety of geometric patterns and sequences executed with beautiful stances and hand-eye coordination. In the ashtapadhi that followed, a collaborative piece, Shruti took on the role of the ever-charming Krishna and Aruna of the enraged Radha. This piece, a conversation between the two lovers, was interpreted very differently to what is usually seen, as Radha showed not distinct outrage at Krishna’s dalliance, but a gentler, chiding attitude.

Dark Dream by ES Kelly and Carl Tolentino was a striking presentation on how the mind and body shift roles in the state of slumber. The body goes into a state of inactivity as one enters the realm of sleep, but the mind awakens to heightened activity

The familiar cliché, last but not the least was a truth to behold as the evening came to an end, with Prabhu Acharya of Osoniqs playing The Hang. From what seemed like a shimmering bowl of silver arose the most exotic combination of melody and percussion, and what the audience was being treated to was a recently invented instrument called the ‘Hang’. Aruna and Shruti danced to the playing of this instrument in various rhythmic combinations of 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9, with the panchanadai bringing the evening to a fitting finale.

Prabhu seems to have a magical touch with instruments as he walked the path as an interlude earlier in the program. He meandered along the stage playing a flute. The audience wondered where the sound came from as we were plunged in total darkness,

BY HAMSA VENKAT

Rivers from different sources merge and flow into one ocean, a variety of flora grow together to make a beautiful garden and people of different cultures live in harmony to make a society. So it seemed the most natural thing to witness a confluence of varying art forms in one evening of entertainment at the Riverside Lennox Theatre Parramatta in their season Lineage, organised by Form Dance Projects and Riverside.

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Gautam Jain 02 9552 1111