Just minutes into his performance, legendary contemporary Indian dancer and choreographer Astad Deboo demands that an audience member switch off the flash on his phone. Once it’s off, he resumes his performance.
It’s surprising how his mood shifts from annoyance and anger to calm and soulful within seconds, when he starts dancing.
Astad’s solo show, ‘Eternal Embrace’, organised by Alliance Française of Madras and Prakriti Foundation, is a study on body movements, pauses and swaying states of mind. And, you gradually realise why the dancer does not want any disturbance during this almost meditative kind of experience.
This is a far cry from the person I meet in the morning for an interview. Wearing a T-shirt and a pair of casual trousers, he walks into the building and sits on a wooden bench.
“I have been performing in Chennai for four decades. It is a city where dance is very strong and predominant,” he says.
Popularly as a pioneer of contemporary dance, this is Astad’s 47th year as a professional in this creative field. “I have seen how my work has changed. As wine matures, I have also matured in many ways,” he smiles.
‘Eternal Embrace’ is the first 60-minute solo he has created, in collaboration with musician Yukio Tsuji. It is inspired by Maati , a poem by Bulleh Shah.
“The Metropolitan Museum, New York, invited me to perform under its Islamic wing. Their brief was that it had to have live music and have some Islamic relevance. I asked a couple of my friends from the literature and poetry world to suggest ideas. They recommended Bulleh Shah’s work, and I zeroed in on Maati .”
Yukio Tsuji’s melodies blend with the intense and Zen-like emotions of Astad all at once. “Yukio has been wonderful to collaborate with and is a conscientious musician. He always comes up with fresh work.
There was constant questioning between the two of us,” says Astad. Meanwhile, Yukio compares Astad to the legendary Butoh master, Kazuo Ohno.
Astad says, “For this, I got to work on myself. It is both inward and outward, the Yin and the Yang. The subject is about suffering, searching, and the acceptance that we will all leave this world at some point. Those are the thoughts that Maati also reflects.”
Astad’s style is an organic evolution from his strong classical foundation in kathak and kathakali. After training in kathak, young Astad went overseas in search of a new language, and then returned to work on his style. He recalls it was a dance critic who suggested that he learn Kathakali to add to his vocabulary. “It’s a completely different style. There is a lot of abhinaya in my creative process.”
Back in the 70s, it took people some time to accept his unconventional approach to dance, says Astad.
“In the initial years, people were not very receptive. Some embraced me, others took a longer time; but my journey has continued and keeps on going.”
So, what inspires him while he brings out a new work? “There are no hard and fast rules. It depends on the emotional state of my mind.”
Astad says political incidents also influence his work. “My ‘Rhythm Divine’ was inspired by political unrest. People who have seen it can feel it. But it is not in the face. I am not a rabble-rouser.”
