Time to go funky

Three young men sit at a table despondently. Their bodies are fraught with tension and frustration. They look like young men on the verge of climbing up the corporate ladder, in ties, shoes, shirts and trousers.

Ordinary young men, who you might see in a car, on a bus, walking down the road. Suddenly, there is a burst of movement, and the young men are transformed into three talented young contemporary dancers

This Funk piece will be performed by Dil Sagar, Rakesh MPs, and Abhilash Ningappa at the Global Tree Café, as a part of its art and performance series Food For Thought, on September 19.

“We chose this theme, because we want our work to relate to young urban audiences,” says Rakesh and adds, “and because some of us are perpetually in a blue funk about something or the other. When we break down in our day-to-day emotions, we all feel like we are in this alone, but when we talk about it and share feelings, we realise that most of us live in an isolated yet parallel emotional universe. We want to tell people that they are not alone in this, we are all in the same boat every now and then.”

Though the work takes on a physical language of contemporary dance, the work is
easily understood by anyone who has shared similar experiences.

“We want to perform Funk everywhere, in a restaurant, office, retail outlet, outdoors. Anywhere that people like us hang out. We are also performing it in everyday clothes, which is a challenge, but it suits the piece.”

Besides, they feel it’s time to break away from ‘costumes’. “There are things our generation has to say, and dance is one of the best ways to do this. It is a universal language. The boys want to take dance out of the formal auditorium spaces, and make direct contact with their audiences by deliberately choosing unconventional spaces to dance in. We must explore new formats,” says Dil Sagar and adds, “people get bored of seeing the same style repeatedly.”