Details

Akademi has been presenting Daredevas, a showcase for up and coming dancers around London and the United Kingdom. Daredevas features the brightest young talents in contemporary Indian dance. British based with International roots, these artists provide a fresh take on traditional Indian dance styles, showing a mixture of bold and adventurous choreographies. Two dancers perform six dances in a constantly changing repertoire of bite sized pieces. Up-beat, downbeat, elegant, energetic, cool, hot, Daredevas is a stunning mosaic of choreography designed for the 21st century. Bharathanatyam - Traditionally this is an offering of flowers to grace the temple, paying respect to a chosen deity, and the Alarippu is a symbolic awakening of the body, sequentially becoming more complex, to arrive at a complete state. Sri Thina intends to reinterpret this as a personal awakening within a modern context. Sri Thina Subramaniam - Padam - Indendu Vachitivira. Bharathanatyam - Choreographed by Mavin Khoo, here the Khandita Nayika, an enraged heroin, chides her lover for his infidelity. Sooraj Subramaniam - Simhasanastithe. Bharathanatyam - This dance, choreographed by Padmashri Adyar K. Lakshman, describes and praises the Goddess Durga. Sri Thina Subramaniam - Mangala Charan. Odissi - A traditional invocatory piece paying homage to Lord Jagganath and praising the elephant-headed God - Lord Ganesh. The devotee seeks to begin their journey of self discovery. Concluding with trikhandi pranam (threefold salutation) - above the head to the Gods, in front of the face to the gurus and in front of the chest to the audience. Sooraj Subramaniam - Navarasa. Odissi - The nine (nava) sentiments (rasas) key to the dramatic element in Indian performance are presented by excerpting scenes from the epic Ramayana. Choreographed by the late Guru Deba Prasad Das. Sri Thina Subramaniam - Pallavi (Rag - Kalyan). Odissi - Rag Kalyan represents the masculine energy, that of a warrior, resplendent, heroic with his tilak or vermillion mark on the forehead, handsome yet fearsome when he strikes. Both the dance and the music evolve in complexity as the dancer traces multiple patterns in space, pushing boundaries of the music in the multilayered dimensions of taal (rhythm) and laya (speed).

Cast/Performers

Sooraj Subramaniam, Sri Thina