Can the twain meet?

Alliance Francaise presented an Indo-French collaborative dance project ‘Histoires Vraies’ which means a ‘true story’ at Ravindra Bharati. And what could be a true story better than the dance movements from two Indian dancers Vijna Vasudevan and Renjith Babu in collaboration with two European dancers Mai Ishiwata and Steven Hervouet, which brings in stories that shift, move and change roles.

Sometimes it’s Vijna and Renjith as Radha and Krishna while otherwise it’s Mai Ishiwata and Steven Hervouet who suddenly become Radha and Krishna in an interchanging and challenging roles of Indian aesthetic dance.

There are sign languages, expressions, Mudras, movements, poses and representations which seek to reveal different conceptions of history. At times, the background music is all about the hustle bustle and chaos present in any busy Indian street with sounds of traffic and hawkers inter-mingled. The music score for most of the presentation which encompasses the beauty and grace of movements which never merge but seem to be at twain, is by Sylvain Chauveau.

The choreography of the dance production is by very seasoned dancer Cecile Loyer who happened to meet the Indian dance couple of Vijna and Renjith and brought about the concept into something very similar, yet different in their cultures.

By Jaywant Naidu