While the performing arts scenario was completely shattered due to the lockdown, it opened new vistas to promote and propagate dance on the international platform. Most mentors were reluctant to start online classes as dance being a physical art, it's not easy to transmit knowledge and the technique of dance through the virtual media. But what is most heartening is that classical dance was not confined to any particular locality or region, hence it crossed all regional boundaries, attracting dance aspirants from around the world, thereby enhancing the aspect of reaching out on the international platform.

During the lockdown, New York City based Indo – American Arts Council Inc, not for profit arts organization passionately dedicated to promoting, showcasing and building an awareness of arts and artists of Asian Indian heritage. The artistic focus is primarily on the performing arts besides the visual, literary and folk arts.

IAAC also organizes literary festivals and film festivals, apart from the performing arts festivals. Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) organised The Erasing Borders dance festival virtually on 8th August, after shortlisting several entries, six dancers in different streams of classical and modern dance were invited to exhibit their presentations. The curators were, Uttara asha Coorlawala, Sruthi Mohan and Dipashreya Sur. The guest of the festival was Subhalakshmi Khan, Bharatanatyam artist from Kalakshetra, Chennai. The dancers were invited to present their new innovative compositions, choreographed during the pandemic

The first performer of the festival was Tanya Saxena. New Delhi based Tanya is a brilliant Bharata natyam exponent, the artist has collaborated with the Raza foundation to explore 'Bindu'. Her work is inspired by S H Raza's paintings (Delhi). Exploring the significance of the spot known as Bindu, the dancer tries to capture and interpret the philosophy and the idea of the Bindu with linear, geometrical and circular movements with precise and calculated movements. A fine start to the festival.

Normally Kathak is acclaimed for its rhythmic variety and brilliance, executed through the complex footwork. Toronto based kathak exponent Tanveer Alam demonstrated the slow and graceful movements called 'leher'. He explored the Vilambit laya to reflect on the decelerating effects of time ,Infact if you dance slowly, you can complete the movements properly and gracefully, pertaining to the aesthetic quality of classical dance.

Subastian Tan and Shahrin Johry/ MDT - Duet Modern, called 'Generate'. Members of Maya Dance Theatre, Singapore. The piece that is danced in urban landscapes is choreographed by Liz Lea, Kavitha Krishna and the Dancers. The dancers performed a variety of movements that were flamboyant and also proving their ability to control the movements with amazing flexibility and coordination.

Mythili Anoop is a fine Mohiniyattam exponent from Hyderabad  Her performance was  a visual treat with the combination of graceful movements, expressions pertaining to to the multi facets of nature in all its glory, based on the poem" Bird of Time" by the celebrated poetess Sarojini Naidu. 

The clock of our breath ticks away and stops arbitrarily, and in the space between the beginning and the end, lie many songs of beauty; the songs sung by the bird of time: songs of glory, joy, sorrow, struggle, hope and peace. Where does the bird learn these songs from? From the blowing forests, the laughter of new brides, the mother’s prayers, the heart’s despair, the sob of hate, the pride of victory, and the eternal silence of death. , this work presents an assortment of life’s dramatic moments which ultimately ends in silence. The theme unfolds as a dialogue between the human caught in time and the bird which exists in a realm beyond time. However, the bird’s songs of eternal wisdom, the varied rhythms it sings for the various emotions and situations in life are learnt from the realm of the mortal. Before, the ticking of breath is eternally silenced, the body dances to the many songs of life. It is these songs that give life its beauteous hues, which is otherwise merely a collection of mechanical moments marked by the tick of the clock.

Deepali Salil - 5 dancers, Animals, Contemporary Bharatanatyam - the presentation is part of a larger work titled 'Looking within/ Looking Around'. It focuses on the emotions of animals and presents the drama in the lives of the gazelle, the killer whale that births its young, the female Hyena and the crane. The male dancer excelled in the typical "angika abhinaya" of the animals.

On the whole it was an unusual and interesting festival, dealing with a variety of contrasting subjects.

By Guru Vijay Shanker