<p>Themes of diversity ran like like a skein of richly coloured silk through the performance and woven into its tapestry were shades of diverse dance forms drawn from the East and West.<br /><br />Yoga, classical ballet, peppy music videos, dreamy love duets and hit broadway musicals – Yana drew from all these influences and put together a wonderful performance that highlighted the fact that a well-trained dancer can indeed dance anything.<br /><br />The first sequence began with the graceful Sundance Ceremony that combined the spirituality of yoga with the techniques of Western ballet. Next was a whimsical and ethereal performance of softly flitting nymphs in a fairy like midsummer garden.<br /><br />The stylised doll like movements of the classic Coppelia then gave the audience a peep into another dimension of classical ballet. Collage, a commercial style music video had all the energy and oomph of a modern day foot-tapping production for the wired up Generation Y. A dreamy love duet, based on the classic Whitney Houston song I will always love you was performed as a soulful lyrical jazz piece. It had two star-crossed lovers from diverse cultures – an Indian maiden schooled in Bharatanatyam and a South American boy dancing in the Latino style.<br /><br />Then moving to a different beat, the dancers did the peppy Broadway style jazz number by Peggy Lee – Fever.<br /><br />The second half had the intriguingly named piece IC408 inspired by an Indian Airlines flight. The passenger falls asleep and drifts into a surreal world where he dances with the other passengers on the wing of the plane. Shock Value, a solo performed and choreographed in the contemporary jazz style by a male dancer brought out the soul searching agony of a person seeking redemption. <br /><br />Identity, another contemporary piece had five individual dancers coming together to form one whole. The dance of the sugar plum fairy from the much-loved ballet the Nutcracker was another well-performed piece and the grand finale from the hit broadway musical Cats brought the show to a resounding climax. <br /><br />“I wanted to show audiences that intensive training is an integral part of being a good dancer. Contrary to common perception, dancers in the West are trained either in a strict technique based on classical ballet or in techniques introduced by the 20th-century modern-dance choreographers – just like classical dancers in India,” says Yana.</p>
<p>Themes of diversity ran like like a skein of richly coloured silk through the performance and woven into its tapestry were shades of diverse dance forms drawn from the East and West.<br /><br />Yoga, classical ballet, peppy music videos, dreamy love duets and hit broadway musicals – Yana drew from all these influences and put together a wonderful performance that highlighted the fact that a well-trained dancer can indeed dance anything.<br /><br />The first sequence began with the graceful Sundance Ceremony that combined the spirituality of yoga with the techniques of Western ballet. Next was a whimsical and ethereal performance of softly flitting nymphs in a fairy like midsummer garden.<br /><br />The stylised doll like movements of the classic Coppelia then gave the audience a peep into another dimension of classical ballet. Collage, a commercial style music video had all the energy and oomph of a modern day foot-tapping production for the wired up Generation Y. A dreamy love duet, based on the classic Whitney Houston song I will always love you was performed as a soulful lyrical jazz piece. It had two star-crossed lovers from diverse cultures – an Indian maiden schooled in Bharatanatyam and a South American boy dancing in the Latino style.<br /><br />Then moving to a different beat, the dancers did the peppy Broadway style jazz number by Peggy Lee – Fever.<br /><br />The second half had the intriguingly named piece IC408 inspired by an Indian Airlines flight. The passenger falls asleep and drifts into a surreal world where he dances with the other passengers on the wing of the plane. Shock Value, a solo performed and choreographed in the contemporary jazz style by a male dancer brought out the soul searching agony of a person seeking redemption. <br /><br />Identity, another contemporary piece had five individual dancers coming together to form one whole. The dance of the sugar plum fairy from the much-loved ballet the Nutcracker was another well-performed piece and the grand finale from the hit broadway musical Cats brought the show to a resounding climax. <br /><br />“I wanted to show audiences that intensive training is an integral part of being a good dancer. Contrary to common perception, dancers in the West are trained either in a strict technique based on classical ballet or in techniques introduced by the 20th-century modern-dance choreographers – just like classical dancers in India,” says Yana.</p>
