Space explorers of the slow dancing kind
In one of the many apartments of a nondescript block, somewhere near Chetpet, in Chennai, every morning for the last three months or so, a group of five dancers — four women, and one man — has been quietly bonding with the many walls, nooks and niches in the large living room, through a process of exploration that alternates between stillness and movement. The cohesive consolidation of those findings — in space and dynamics — is really the core construct of Wall Dancing, a three-hour-long project that will open on December 4 at the Focus Art Gallery, Chennai, where it was developed.
Emerging from the house of Padmini Chettur — Chennai-based internationally known contemporary dancer whose dance is visual and image-centric, and in her own words, “not into narrative, emotions or sentiments” — Wall Dancing is really an abstract. In it, the dancers unfold a series of propositions, whose material is all built into the surface of the wall itself. “Sometime in January,” says Padmini, “I began proposing to my dancers the possibility of creating six or eight movements, the only parameter for construct being that some surface of their body had to have a contact with the wall.” That process of research and improvisation, over the months, led to a kitty of nearly 60 movements or so that founded the form and feel of Wall Dancing. Designed to be presented in spaces like an art gallery, the work, in a sense, has the ability to both draw audiences into its fold and at the same time to allow them the liberty to let go, whenever they want. “In a way, the idea of three hours began as my own need to challenge myself and the dancers,” says Padmini who is, for the first time, only creating and not performing.
As an experiment in propositions, Wall Dancing, from an audience’s point of view is about perceptions and perspectives. Slow, drawn-out refrains in movement that occur in moments — some solo, some duets and some group —allow the audience an opportunity to engage. “It’s not easy for the dancers, either,” she says, referring to their challenge of having to sustain their energy over a length of time through the performance that can, by its mere design and presentation, be both intensive and intrusive.
Padmini’s previous work was a solo, Beautiful Thing 2. And even though Wall Dancing is, in a sense, a continuation of the idea of spaces and the body, it is definitely more challenging. “Increasingly, choreographers are moving away from the idea of a presentation on a stage,” she says. That’s a good thing. Experimental, or otherwise.
Wall Dancing will be presented by Basement 21 at the Focus Art Gallery, Chennai, on December 4 and 5.