Fusion

"Ivillage: My Indian Village", "Inseparation", "Flight", "Bollysa"
Sa Dance Company
Ailey Citigroup Theater
New York, New York
June 28, 2014

The word "Sa" means, according to the program notes, the first and last note in the octave used in Indian classical music.  The Sa Dance Company, a group of 10 stunningly beautiful women, melds blends the various schools of Indian classical dance with more modern versions; the brief biographies in the program shows the range of types these dancers have studied, from Kathak, Odissi, and Bharatanatyam to ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop. The founder and choreographer, Payal Kadakia writes that she uses her works to explore Indian American identity; these are not traditional Indian dances.

This mixture of the energy and coordination of hip hop with the warmth and filigreed upper body of Indian dance is a winning combination, and the colorful, cheerful group dances with their stomping bare feet and lip-syncing were enormously entertaining.  The first dance, set in an imagined Indian village was "tinged with nostalgia for a life we never actually had", according to Kadakia.  The (recorded) music by several Indian pop musicians was pulsating and dynamic and the lilting, swaying dancing included stylized groups miming cooking, sewing, planting, cleaning, and, not least, gossiping in beautiful, colorful costumes.

This communal feeling continued through the program, and the group dances had the folk-like feel of being danced for a group of friends and many in the audience clapped along with the more percussive movements.  The middle two dances were a bit darker and more subdued; "Inseparation" was danced in dark purple and "Flight" in black leotards.  The final piece, "Bollysa", was an explosion of red with gold accents, inspired, according to the notes, by Bollywood, and the whirling, stomping circle dances were constantly shifting pictures.  There was a brief nod to romance, as a group of four mimed, so beautifully, tears and lost loves and then merged back into the joyful group. The program was simply intoxicating.

copyright © 2014 by Mary Cargill