Out of India: Modern Moves
Barbican Centre, London EC2
3/5

ACCORDING to the programme this production aims to shed light on the “effect of capitalism on Indian society” and the first of the three 20-minute long etudes, NH7 by Bangalore-born Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy, promises much.

A comment on India’s rapid urbanisation and the impact it’s having on individuals swept up in sudden change, it has two symmetrically synchronised dancers (pictured)in high-vis building-site vests, embodying harmony and the pride of labour.

Animated with neat figuration and engaging movement, concord is soon replaced by conflict and descent into mutual humiliation and chaos.

Not particularly revealing, NH7’s impact is further diminished by a seemingly interminable middle section that lacks choreographic cohesion or discernible progression.

The second piece, the exotic Trikonanga, is articulated by the traditional expressive use of head, navel and toe motifs which utilise physical, oral and emotional expression to chart the transformation of a goddess-like woman (Hemabharathy Palani) into a mental and physical wreck.

In Nerves, modernity returns with a stage-wide back projection of political protest which the four dancers engage with in a visually powerful and aggressively choreographed expression of “street resistance.”

They are defeated by the “flying” Doc Marten boots of the repressive forces, imaginatively suspended on strings.

As with NH7, the middle section vastly overstates the brutality of oppression and loses the inspiring energy and momentum of the beginning through endless repetition.

But the piece regains visual composure and choreographic sense in a fascinating finale that movingly articulates the ultimate defeat and shackling of the rebels.

All three pieces are accompanied by haunting and suggestive sounds that range from street cacophony to quasi-religious chanting that infuse the dance.

Worthwhile work in progress and well done Barbican for encouraging it.

Review by Michal Boncza