A contemporary dance performance C. Touch Will be presented in Bengaluru. The concept and choreographed by Bombay-based independent artist Shruti Maria Datar, the purpose of the performance is to find out what is meant to embrace a female identity in a world where the male shapes the stimulation assumptions, Shruti has said between her dance rehearsal on the phone from Mumbai.
“The dance invites the audience to see the dancers, who use their body as a canvas of resistance, vulnerability and flexibility, embrace the contradictions of the touch as an experience and intervention.”
C. Touch A full-length is a contemporary couple, built with the movement collaborative, Melita Dasuza. Shruti will join the stage by Nishamita, and the pair will perform for the pre-scored music by Adriel George.
Dance is produced by The Movement Arts Company, an initiative that works in three verticals through dance programs in schools, attaches (a crowdfunded platform for emerging choreographers) and supporting the manufacture and performance of artistic projects in Mumbai, who has given her offering to Shruti, who has performed her presentation in a contemporary style.
A trained classical dancer (Bhartanatyam) uses movement to detect subjects of identity, culture and human emotions. Although she finds contemporary dance a form that gives her freedom to find movement and abstract concepts, she also believes that Bharatanatyam has not banned her.
“This has given me a strong foundation because Bharatanatyam includes gestures, arms and leg movement, acting.”
When people think about contemporary dance, Shruti says, they close many of these classical characteristics. “As I draw from my personal experiences, Bharatantayam is a part of that process. Therefore, I also include pregnancy and facial expression for my contemporary work.”
Shruti, trained for Bangalore’s Atkkalari Center for Movement Arts, said that she trains her body in a harsh manner. “So it runs in the way I want it and tell what I want, so every movement connects myself with my concept.”
Shruti’s choreographer work-in-traveler, PHI The Contemporary Dance Award was shown in Prakrit Excellence in 2016 and the dancer is also painted in the Dance Films Series. Moving City Brussels,
His dance concepts are always abstract, says Shruti. “The beauty of contemporary dance is that the audience is free to see it according to its interpretations. I leave the interpretation for the audience because I do not believe in feeding them with a clear story in a spoon, but prefer to remove them what they add. In this way, there is a scope for the audience to connect with the same concept at different levels.”
His movement vocabulary, the dancer says, is based on his memories, identity and experiences of being a woman in a metro, navigating the world.
When made C. TouchShruti says that she was ready for the contradictions contained in the touch of touch. “It has the power to nourish and wound, to connect and separate. Choreography emerged as a conversation between dancers and concept of concept.
Dance, Shruti says that all aspects of touch from the perspective of the gender have been included, from individual as well as from a large socio-political point of view.
The bodies of the dancers, say Shruti, are not only artists, but also the storyteller, canvas and sites of change. “Through the complex pattern, moments of peace, and explosive burst of movement, they manifest the body as both a battlefield and a sanctuary.”
C -interest April 11 will be presented at Medi-The Stage at 7 pm. It is a ticket show.
Published – April 10, 2025 09:53 AM IST
