Meeting through movement

By Passana Gunasekera

Three women and five men held the Colombo audiences captive for over an hour with a fusion of dance; hip-hop, kathak and bharatha natyam at the Elphinstone Theatre, last month. They were Accrorap, the French dance company which initially specialized in a mix of acrobatics and street dances, later incorporating classical, contemporary and traditional influences into their repertoire.

Kader Attou and his team of dancers were in Sri Lanka two years ago with their show Kelkemo. Kelkemo was all about the hardships and the morbid experiences they encountered while touring the refugee camps in Bosnia and Croatia, related to the audience through dance. Having had immediate success back then, Accrorap arrived in Colombo once more with their latest innovation; Anokha; a meeting of hip-hop, kathak and bharathanatyam.

Their story was simple and relevant... and once again based on fundamental issues. Through their dance they brought to the surface the crying need for peace, the longing for non-violence and the message of Mahatma Gandhi.

The three Indian dancers and the five Accrorappers in vibrant coloured attire presented a fusion. And a fusion of dance it was in the true sense of the word- a graceful rendition to a soundtrack that had an Indian and rap flavour. The Indian dance related to God and the dancers thus paid homage.

The occidental dance related to man and his position in this world while expressing the personality of the dancers. It was truly an exchange of intercultural art forms between the Orient and the Occident.

Ravibandhu and his dancers set the mood with the curtainraiser thus adding a Sri Lankan touch to the performance.

The Accrorappers then came on in their acrobatic, hip-hop and break-dance style. It just took a snap of a finger for them to move from one stunt to another...dancing with so much body strength... so much gusto...they somersaulted, rotated till they turned into human balls...throwing themselves across the length and breadth of the stage. The three Indian dancers danced away with such elasticity...all with precise movements of hands and feet from fingertips to toes...their facial expressions telling a story...their lissome figures personifying grace on stage.

Kader Attou the leader and the choreographer of the troupe related how Accrorap was born in 1989, quite by accident. For Saint Priest, Eric-Mezino, Kader Attou and their friends, dance had been their passion at the outset. They learnt their acrobatic skills in "circus" school, as little boys. But after leaving school "dance" became a profession.

Their first show "Athina" was presented in 1994. "Anokha" was the aftermath of discovering traditional forms of dances, Indian as well as Sri Lankan and their eagerness to learn more about them. Two years ago, they established themselves in Ahmedabad to learn this traditional form of art.

Said Attou, "Anokha for me is not fusion because I don't believe in fusion, I believe in the meeting. For Anokha performers, first it is a meeting, a meeting with the people who come from different countries, cultures and with different dance forms."

Asked about the message this performance conveyed Kader Attou was quick to state that there was no message but a small yet complete story. "It is not that I long to convey a message or that messages interest spectators. I personally want the spectators to have a good time watching us," he said.

Anikha and Anokha were presented at the Biennale Dance in Lyon.

Accrorap received nothing less than a deafening applause from the audience and Kader Attou's final message encountered a standing ovation.

He stated that war and violence were universal and Sri Lanka was not the only country experiencing them. However, far, far away he saw hope and peace. For when he started his show people said it was impossible but he had shown through symbolism that one day it would be possible to bring everybody together.

From old to new, real to unreal

By Alfreda de Silva

The Johann Sebastian Bach Anniversary Concert presented by the Goethe Institute at the Lionel Wendt, was a rare and fulfilling musical experience.

It was a blend of the ancient and modern with beautiful surprises in interpretation and experimentation, with Stefan Hussong on accordion and Julius Berger on violincello.

An inspired idea was the programme with its clearly defined, highly relevant information on the music, the composers and the instruments. It brought the concert within the reach of the large mixed audience and not only the musically literate.

The programme opened with suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007, composed by Bach (1685-1750) for solo violincello. Its Prelude the impression of seeming improvisation, and the gentle Allemande was followed by a colourfully textured Courante. The rhythmic variety of the Sarabande was rounded off by the lilting dance tempo of minuet and gigue.

Bach's sonata No. 1 in G BWV 1027 composed for viola da gamba and keyboard, suggests a date around 1742 though this has remained uncertain. Its style, enhanced by ornamentation, achieved a brilliant finale with the exquisite playing of Hussong on accordian and Berger on violincellow.

New sounds and originality were the core of the Stefan Hussong's brilliantly rendered accordian solo, Bach's Wachet auf ruft uns die stimme BWV 645 (Schubier Chorale No.1) in Midway through the concert.

Before the Bach Sonata No. 2 in D BWV 1028 by the cellist and accordionist brought the concert to a dramatic ending, there were two compositions by the modern Russian composer, Sofia Gubayduling (born 1931). Julius Berger had included them in this programme because he had been impressed and influenced by her interpretations of Bach.

At the Bach concert her work in crose (1979), for violincello and accordion, was soulfully performed by Berger and Hussong. In this item the symbolism of the music was intended to signify a cross. It had turbulence and dynamism. It represented the composer's plea for unity to return.

Sofia Gubaydulina's De profundis (1978) for solo accordion was an extraordinary performance by Stefan Hussong.

The composition was based on Psalm 130. The words of the psalmist. 'Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord' were wonderfully echoed in the music.

This was an evening of magic with both wizards in complete control steering fascinated the audience from the old to the new, from the real to the unreal and the real again.

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