The fourth floor of the apartment in Gopalapuram is vibrating with foot-thumping music. For almost two-and-a-half hours, the girls have been sweating it out non-stop. Amidst their graceful and swift movements, their manager Freddy Koikaran shares, “The girls are gearing up for the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival (CYDF) to be held in Glasgow this July.” The all-girls ensemble High Kicks is one of the nine companies to have been selected from around the world to participate in CYDF that marks the celebration of city’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games.
Aparna Nagesh, creative director of Showstoppers INC and High Kicks, is watching every move and expression of her troupe. Once the music stops, she tells one of them, “It is a fight scene, you should show lot more attitude.”
Most of the girls are college-goers busy with their exams, but they are present for the rehearsal. Aanchal Anand, a ballet dance trainer who recently joined the group, says, “We are all passionate about this dance style, and I enjoy the freedom to express and explore various dance movements.”
Keep it short
For the festival, the troupe is planning to do a shortened version of its first production presented last year in the city. The production Leap Of Life depicts the influence of society over individuality and the rebels who choose to break free. The 40-minute production will be shortened to nine minutes, to meet the time-limit given by CYDF. Aparna says, “Our focus is going to be on the final section: Minds Without Fear. This music inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s original poem — Where The Mind Is Without Fear is composed by Vishal Dadlani and U.K. artiste Imogen Heap. The dance piece is contemporary with an Indian feel.”
The organisers of CYDF have created a forum on Facebook for the performers to interact with each other. Apart from performing at the event, participants will also be attending a number of fun-filled dance workshops on African dance, Scottish dance, site-specific choreography and other global dances from expert U.K. choreographers. The girls will have the opportunity to take part at an event where 2,014 dancers will showcase what they learnt during the workshops. Excited about their nomination, Jessica Dubier who has been with the troupe from the start exclaims, “We are eagerly looking forward to meeting other international dancers and exchanging ideas on art forms.”
The group has turned to the popular crowdfunding site indiegogo.com to fund its travel, board and lodging.