Beginning Thursday, the capital will play host to a four-day event titled Indent: The Body and the Performative to looks at new ideas and concepts of the body in performance through a series of talks, performances and work-in-progress sharings.
The symposium is being organised by the Gati Dance Forum, an organisation that works across performance, research, pedagogy and advocacy in dance in India. It is supported by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan and Pro Helvetia–Swiss Arts Council.
Giving a rundown of the activities, Ranjana Dave, Programmes Director, Gati Dance Forum, says, “The symposium Indent: The Body and the Performative collates practices and ideas that enable, expand, and cluster around current notions of the body in performance. It also marks the launch of Gati’s eponymous a digital publication which is a pioneering initiative to create spaces for new and critical writing in dance,” she says.
The symposium also forms the backdrop for Indent Lab, a workshop and laboratory space that begins to consider what the act of writing adds up to in the tactile and febrile landscape of the digital interface. “The 13 odd participants at the lab will draw on programmes at the symposium, engaging in conversation with invited ‘provocateurs’-Dima Hamadeh (Lebanon), Indira (Indu) Chandrasekhar (India), and Urmimala Sarkar Munsi (India), to probe how writing can be imagined in relation to dance, and to treat it as a practice that moves beyond text, to consider different kinds of material, and the possibility of the ephemeral. The lab will culminate in the participants individually proposing a distinct starting point for developing a piece of writing for the next edition of the journal,” says Dave.
Among the highlights include Dancing Artificial Intelligence (DAI) by Jonathan O’Hear, Martin Rautenstrauch and Timothy O’Hear on Friday, November 23, at Chaumukh, National School of Drama. Talking about the context of the symposium, and the larger notions of the body and the performative, Jonathan, a light designer from Switzerland and one of the creators of DAI, says, “It began with us questioning who is really shaping our future society as the fourth industrial revolution unfolds. What we are attempting here, beyond dance, is to let Artificial Intelligence develop without any utilitarian objectives, freely exploring its body and its environment.”
Dancer-choreographer Navtej Johar, will present his solo titled Tanashah on November 24. The other highlight is Preethi Athreya’s performance titled The Lost Wax Project that can be enjoyed on the evening of November 25 at Chaumukh, National School of Drama. November 22 – 25, 10 am onwards, Serendipity Arts Foundation, Defence Colony.
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