India Today – August 13, 2018

(singke) #1
AUGUST 13, 2018 INDIA TODAY 79

DANCE

The Fire Within


Ashley Lobo’s Agni


talking about what inspired
him. “Globalisation is only in
business and not in terms of
human spirit. We are being
marginalised and insulated
across the world. There is an
ideology to that. It creates
something and also destroys.”
Commissioned by Yair
Vardi, director of the renowned
Suzanne Dellal Centre in Tel
Aviv in Israel, Lobo presented
the production in Israel in
July during a tour facilitated
by the Indian Council for
Cultural Relations and the High
Commissioner of India there.
Lobo’s style involves
western techniques of ballet
and jazz, which he employs to
devise works that offer “spiri­
tual philosophies of India and
Indian dance”. A practitioner
of the ‘Prana Paint and Flow’


technique, he emphasises
on breathing, meditation and
yoga to explore movements.
“Dance is like painting, you are
using your energy to paint the
air, floor and another body,” he
says. “Prana Paint sensitises
the dancers, makes them more
personal in their expression so
that one can feel their emotions
strongly.” It’s evident in Agni as
dancers never lose their focus
to maintain the intensity even
as they change costumes on
the sideline.
The biggest challenge that
Lobo faces apart from fund­
ing is to keep NIDT together.
“Dancers by nature are gyp­
sies,” he said. “They like to
constantly pick up information
from the universe.” Currently,
NIDT has 24 members of
which nine are part of the core

repertory. Lobo is aware that
what dancers essentially need
is an ‘audience’ to ‘share their
art’ and opportunities to ‘grow
and learn more about’ it. This,
he provides through overseas
tours and pushing them with
ideas and challenging chore­
ography. For a company that’s
just about three years old, NIDT
has already showcased its
work in the US, Israel, Germany
and Taiwan. This year it adds
Austria and Poland to its list.
So far, Lobo has created
two productions, Amara (2015)
and Agni (2016). This year he
plans to create another piece
and also perform Agni again
in India. “The interpretation of
the narrative is so much more
mature because the dancers
have evolved,” he says. n
—Suhani Singh

“IN DANCE,


YOU USE


YOUR


ENERGY TO


PAINT THE


AIR, FLOOR


AND


ANOTHER


BODY”

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