Feature: FIRST ENCOUNTER - CLUB GUY & RONI AND NAVDHARA INDIA DANCE THEATRE at NCPA
An eclectic group of dancers from both these groups have joined hands to put together a showcase at the NCPA in the coming week of July.
By: Richa Das Jul. 03, 2022
"To live in a city is to be forever flinching." - Jenny Offill
With the monsoon arrived a brand new collaboration between Navdhara India Dance Theatre and Dutch group Club Guy and Roni in Mumbai. An eclectic group of dancers from both these groups have joined hands to put together a showcase at the NCPA in the coming week of July. The show will be spearheaded by choreographers Ashley Lobo, Guy Weizman and Roni Haver.
I had the chance to meet with the team and the showrunners in the middle of their dance rehearsals. From the very first minute of witnessing their collaboration, I knew that this will be a performance born out of a unique combination of experience, intuition and deep respect for intercultural corporeal expression. The dancers glided across the room in tune with each other's movements, it felt like watching sculptures come alive. The modern dance routine will be performed in segments - Lobo, Roni and Guy will each author segments of their own.
Ashley Lobo discussed his belief in facilitating performance rather than creating it. This intention will be brought out in the movement between these dancers - all coming from diverse nationalities and walks of life. In the rehearsals, the dancers relied on a shared sense of rhythm as they counted the beats. His piece will aim to bring out a "solo" experience, detailing how despite our need for community, we are constantly figuring out our life all by ourselves. He wishes to work with the dancers to bring out a form of movement that is not literal - not literal in its relationship with lyrics or with music. The percussion and the movement shall have to work in harmony, creating a grammar of their own.
This will be his first encounter with Club Guy and Roni. Their collaboration was facilitated by Aaron from Aaron Fernandes Entertainment group. He met Guy and Roni in various parts of the world over a long period of time. Eventually, Club Guy and Roni proposed a collaboration with dance groups in India for their summer tour across the world, performing with dancers from the heartland. Previously, Guy and Roni won hearts all over the world for their work with Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was illegally incarcerated in Guantanamo for fourteen years. As a writer-in-residence with the Noord Nederlands Toneel and Club Guy & Roni, Mohamedou wrote the script for the dance performance FREEDOM, which premiered on October 2021. For Slahi, Freedom was the ability to forgive in order to escape the shackles of resentment. Here for their upcoming showcase, Guy and Roni are interested in the idea of FORTUNE and what it could mean for a citizen of India.
In conversation with Guy and Roni, I realised that for them, the dance routine will be an amalgamation of their first encounter with Mumbai. Their team of dancers - Ingor (Poland), Eliana (Italy), Adma (USA) and Camilo (Mexico) met with the Indian team from Navdhara Dance Theatre - Chetan, Urvil and Razul, and together they explored Mumbai and shall attempt to bottle its chaos in their performance. Guy and Roni expressed their honest interest in the philosophical and social realities of contemporary India. Thus, the theme of 'Fortune' will take over their conceptualization of the performance and its paraphernalia. They have arrived in the city with questions of impending wars, inequality and its consequences.
In the middle of our candid conversation, Guy exclaimed that fortune has to be the ability to make an informed choice. Indeed, it will be our good fortune and choice to witness their performance on July 8, at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA. Click here to know more about the showcase.
Comments
Videos