Moving in sync

Artistes from around the globe are participating at the Attakkalari India Biennial festival that was launched last week.

NT Features

Art is a means to start dialogue within and between individuals. It allows us to convey stories in an expressive manner. Many of these stories and experiences are those that we have witnessed but not understood. Attakkalari India Biennial, a festival of contemporary movement and digital arts, brings these stories closer to you with a new perspective. The festival this year has dance companies, dancers and choreographers from India, South Korea, Netherlands, UK, Australia, Japan, Spain, Germany, Norway and Switzerland taking part. It was officially launched in Bengaluru’s culture space, Bengaluru International Centre, on Friday.

The launch was graced by Dr Michael Heinst, director of Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bengaluru and Mr Friedrich Birgelen, deputy Consul General of the German Consulate, Bengaluru. Hosted by popular anchor and event presenter Vasanthi Hariprakash, the evening began with a brief welcome address followed by the premiere of Sthavara- Jangama, a site-specific multimedia performance choreographed by artistic director of Attakkalari, Jayachandran Palazhy and performed by Attakkalari Dance Company and guests. The premise of Sthavara- Jangama was to explore the amorphous relationship that humans share with the physical space and structures around us. The performance also sought to explore how notions of home can transform from that of a safe and secure place of refuge to one of seclusion and tension.

The show as it unfolded gave the Bengaluru audience a memorable performance. Sticking to the brief of being site-specific, the dance ensemble accompanied by musicians MD Pallavi, Bindhumalini and percussionist Vishwa Bharat took the audience along with them around the premises of BIC. With the ruins of Hampi serving as the backdrop, the dance performance began on the terrace. The audience then was led down to the entrance of the venue where Palazhy performed a solo which was projected on a screen as VR imagery. The performance did go digital here courtesy German theatre director and digital artist, Chris Zieglar’s technical wizardry.

The stairs, the foyer and the auditorium were the next stops for the audience as they watched the dancers move and imbue the angst of the homeless. Images of distraught migrants struggling to make their way home during the peak of the lockdown in 2020 in the background made this a sobering performance. Refrains of songs - both Bhakti poetry and Vachanasin Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi by the musical duo took the multi-layered dance act several notches higher.

The event received a standing ovation from the audience and it ended with the felicitation of the dancers, the musicians and the technical crew. The launch was a sneak peak of what is yet to come.

(The10th Attakkalari India Biennial will now continue with performances in Jan and Feb at the Bengaluru International Centre)