A Chapter of fluid movement

Currently in its fourth edition, Adhyaya 2019 is all set to premiere soon in namma ooru. This dance festival has featured some of the best dancers from across India and abroad over the years. The likes of artistes like  Vishwakiran Nambi, Aakash Odedra, Maja Dobrac and many others have been a part of this festival in the past. This year, the festival will feature Agni By Ashley Lobo and performed by the  Navdhara India Dance Theatre and hosted by the Nritarutya Dance Company.

Adhyaya (chapter) is a dance festival unlike others where they will feature just one or two artistes of substance. Mayuri Upadhya, the director of Nritarutya shares, “The festival does not have a foray of artistes. The artistes we select are people who have contributed or have the potential to contribute immensely in the field of art and dance.”

The beauty of the festival is that the genre of dance forms is not important as they have had various dance forms from classical to folk dances. On how they selected people who will feature in the festival, she shares, “When we select an artiste, if it’s a soloist, there is immense potential for him to grow. If not, a very beautiful piece of art which has already done immensely well and has a voice of its own. When we select somebody who is able to innovate, keeping traditions in mind is more important.”

People who can take a subject and bring it to modern perspectives are celebrated at Adhyaya. This year, the festival will feature Agni by ace choreographer Ashley Lobo and it will be performed by the Navdhara India Dance Theatre. “The festival has grown immensely over the years. We will have over 13 dancers coming down from Navdhara to perform. Agni is Ashley Lobo's artist work. And when choreographers get to do artistic work, there is a lot that we want to say.  

Agni is a piece that has already travelled to other countries to several festivals and venues. But this is the first time Bengaluru will see Agni as a production and Ashley’s work.”  

This festival will introduce Bengaluru to cutting edge techniques, which will preserve the cultural heritage of our country in a contemporary way. It will open the door to people who want to experience the magic of live performance art. “Bengaluru has never seen something like this, it has got a very strong language of dance, it’s a very serious piece of work and a very stylised piece of work,” she shares when quizzed why Agni was chosen for this year.

Choreographer of this piece of art, Ashley Lobo says, “Agni means fire, and fire means passion, and passion can create or destroy. Agni creates light but also burns down darkness, it’s used during birth as well as during the cremation process where we destroy. All this is incorporated into this piece. We will be doing an abstract contemporary dance. The company has been trained in ballet also. For this show, we will be using abstract contemporary dance with dance theatre which is a form that comes from abroad. It will also have the flavours of Indian classical dance.”

— The performance will be held on March 29 at ADA Rangamandira.