The 11-year-old, Parijat Desai and Company, takes Indian contemporary dance to a whole new level. The dance troupe from New York performed as a part of The Park's New Festival.
Parijat Desai has a background in Bharatanatyam and jazz dancing. “It was when I took up jazz dancing in high school that I began comparing, contrasting and differentiating between dance-forms and that took my understanding of dance to a whole new level. I also took up modern dancing in college,” says Parijat.
The dancer says that the idea was to perform and feel Indian contemporary dance through the likes of Indian classical and American contemporary dance. “There is a bit of ballet, modern dance and Indian classical mixed in. The beauty lies in amalgamating these forms to convey a unique theme. We don't want it to be random fusion. I have tried to mix sculptural lines and intricate rhythms to make something new…” she says.
The troupe was chosen by Parijat— some by way of auditions and some others from her classes. How does she manage to bring out of a common form of expression through different dancers? “All the dancers are extremely skilled in their own way. I use choreography not to create clones of myself but to bring out dancers who can fetch the rhythm in the music through their feet. I teach them basic elements of Indian classical dance and it's all improvisation from there-on…” she quips.
Music, she believes is also an essential element in any choreography. Like her dance, music in Parijat's work combines both Indian and Western elements - her dance pieces are set to an eclectic mix of electronic music and Hindustani classical songs.
‘Unified uniqueness' in movements as Parijat surmises is important for the evolution of dance. Her piece, `Make Space' is all about creating space around and changing the architecture of dance. She takes away the hastas of Bharatanatyam to a different angle but has kept the rigidness of the movement intact to create floating hand gestures. The lines and shapes of the traditional dance format switch in between and are remixed with razor sharp movements of modern dance. ‘In Songs To Live For', the dancer explores the concept of longing. The dance is set to Hindustani classical music and manages to impress with apt expressions, movement and fluidity. The dance incorporates gestures from the Indian classical dance with movements from the western contemporary dance.
