SURE-HANDED MISTRESS OF HER CRAFT
of form and a decided strength in flexibility.
There was also a purity in her expressions and gestures as she portrayed the passion in this divine love story, from Radha’s playful invitations of placing a mark of musk on her forehead and such, to her wait in anticipation of the consummation after going through all of the obstacles. Low’s solo presentation offered the standard odissi repertoire, to piped-in music, beginning with an offering to the goddess sisters Tara Tarini, followed by the describing the nine individual classical emotions.
Low’s eyes were seriously the windows to this particular segment, expressing the emotions of wonder, anger and happiness or serenity ever so eloquently.
She continued with the and ended with which saw her dancing to an upbeat tempo to illustrate the eventual release and liberation of the soul. While that was the dance part of the show, Low’s envisioning of her solo performance also had an interesting theatrical quality attached to it.
Stage actor Ghafir Akhbar was also
on stage and took on the role of narrator. He introduced each segment cohesively, while a graceful-looking Low waited patiently, either seated on the floor or on a wooden chair.
It was an incisive and intimate approach to get to know Low, as Ghafir read out from a mobile phone. These were about Low’s thoughts on the show, on being a dancer, mother and wife. There was room for lightheartedness too, which came in the form of a recipe for making idli.
Although there was no direct relation to the dance segments per se, the prose served up by Ghafir provided a sort of behind-the-scenes (essence) to accompany the dance performances.
At one point, he even stood on the chair to provide a subtly different visual perspective and punctuation.
That was the only other element in this minimalistic set piece to the dance show. I took a fancy to the wall-to-wall mirror in the Black Box, which faced the audience though.
As Low danced, the audience could see her reflections, which resulted in an almost 360-degree view, that was at once mesmerising as well as artistically captivating.
The simple effect also lent a feeling of being in a dance studio and watching a dancer going through her routine. Given her narration, she seemed to be inviting the audience into a private domain, alongside her, which worked out well. And so we, the audience, were engaged, but yet it had a narcissistic feel to it at the same time.
While Low did not engage with herself through the mirror at all during her performances, it did also present an odd perspectivetotheperformance. Depending on the individual, I would guess that it would have been an interesting and unusual contrast.
What I did notice was that Low had a vision of where her performances could go from this particular solo show. I felt that she was not going down the traditional route, although her craft is compellingly steeped in the legacy of Orissa’s temples.