Confluence of different steps

Bond to Dance’, Ashish Khokar’s Dance DIScourse,  was held at Alliance Francaise recently. The dance recital marked the release of  Ashish Khokar’s annual ‘Attendance’ book, whose theme this year was ‘Dance Couples’, where three couples from the City gave form to their relationship through the art of dancing.

Explaining why he chose this theme, Ashish Khokar explained, “The idea of man and woman working together was getting diluted, if not diminished.”

He said there was a different beauty in watching a man and woman perform together, just like Shiva and Parvathi. The artistes performed to a full house. It consisted people from all walks of life and different age groups with, surprisingly, many youngsters as well.

The show began with the dignitaries — Chiranjeev Singh; Vimala Rangachar; Dominique Causse, Consul General of France in South India and Ashish Khokar — releasing the annual ‘Attendance’ book for 2011-2012.

It was then followed by dance recitals by three couples — Kiran and Sandhya Subramanyam; Hari and wife Chethana and Shridhar and wife Anuradha Shridhar.

Kiran and Sandhya Subramanyam, bharatanatyam dancers, were the first of the three couple to perform on stage. About the concept of couple dancing, Kiran Subramanyam said, “Couple dancing has its own unique language and flavour. It is the infusion of one idea felt by two individuals. However, this does not mean the loss of one’s individuality.” 

He described the experience as beautiful, since both men and women have different energies on stage.

Their breath-taking performance was followed by the youngest couple, kathak dancers Hari and Chethana, who were performing for the first time after the birth of their first child.

Their style of dancing was Shivanjali or offering to Lord Shiva. The piece choreographed by the duo left the audience mesmerised.

Their energetic, yet subtle performance was followed by Shridhar and Anuradha’s performance, which made the audience believe in the concept of two bodies but one soul. The programme ended with a panel discussion.