JOIN USAn air of anticipation greeted all those who attended ‘K Two’, a dance event, held at the National Gallery of Modern Art recently. As many as 60 dance-lovers waited with baited breath to see two internationally acclaimed contemporary performers, Nicole Seiler and Kylie Walters, present a multimedia piece.
A contemporary public dance intervention, ‘K Two’ had several layers with the concept of dance being rewritten at every step. As the two girls started their act, the audience was left bewildered initially but gradually, the fragments of the performance began to fall in place.
The theme of the performance was fresh as Nicole and Kylie improvised on the videogame character ‘Madame K’. In order to blend the virtual world with reality, the performers moved around the venue and tried hard not to emote. With their mechanical movements and green eyes piercing through the place, the two dancers perfectly reflected a videogame scene.
The girls broke the concept of space as they explored the entire arena. The invisible border between stage and audience was no longer present as they moved curiously around the performers. The audience moving around the performers represented the addiction that humans have to the virtual world. Kylie and Nicole used the arena sometimes as a stage, gallery or screen in the game.
Towards the end, their act contained an element of surprise too. As they moved towards the auditorium, the audience felt that they would perform on stage but instead, the duo ended the show.
Kylie and Nicole broke away from the stereotypical definitions of dance (including the costumes they were dressed in). Yet, they gave an entertaining performance.
Suresh Jayaram, a member of the audience, said, “The performance was fantastic. It was not the conventional notion of proscenium dance that one always sees. The audience moved with the actors. It’s really challenging to bring a virtual character to the real world. This performance was meant for the avant-garde audience of the City. The setting was also perfect.”