The evening of November the 26th was a treat for dance lovers in the Capital. Project Bandaloop, a dance group from San Francisco, USA, took contemporary dance to an all new level, quite literally. Performed on the 14th floor of the LIC building in Connaught place, it was a spectacular blend of fluid dance steps and mountaineering techniques and left the audience, among which were Sheila Dikshit as chief guest and Timothy Roemer, the United States Ambassador to India, spellbound. It was a new experience for art aficionados and for the commoners alike. The programme began with a small introduction of the group and a welcome speech by Sheila Dixit and Timothy Reomer.
The group was founded way back in 1991 by Amelia Rudolf who studied at the famous Woodstock school. She learnt Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Odissi. Amelia herself was not part of the team touring India. Project Bandaloop is known for its vertical dance choreography and combining horizontal, vertical and aerial movements while experimenting with gravity. This was the group's second performance in the country. Prior to this they had performed at the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad. The group presented six pieces on various themes.
The show began with three dancers descending from the roof of the building in a white flowing costume and gracefully worked in unison to set the mood for the evening with their beautiful ballerina like movements. Another spectacular moment was a performer descending from one of the big columns of the building, holding a purple cloth and making various movements using the cloth and her body. It was quite an enchanting sight, as the lights bouncing off the cloth rendered it a mystical glow in the wintry night.
The music compositions that accompanied the act struck a chord with the audience and helped to convey the emotions and the message behind each piece.
