2008 Woodie Awards
Ratnam graces stage in seven shades of Tara
Joyce Man
Issue date: 3/16/06 Section: Arts
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At one point, as a sea of red light filled the background and an excited flurry of wind chimes and Tibetan chants rolled across the stage, Anita Ratnam ignited the stage with her swirling, grooving movements. Her arms, snakelike, slithered through space. In the dimmed atmosphere of the Center for the Arts Dance Theatre, the audience was left unsure whether it was the air that moved the dancer or the dancer that moved the air. With that, and if only for a moment, spatial defintions disappeared.
In a nutshell, this is what Ratnam, does - she slides through the crevices of what is certain and blends the things that are undefined. And she does it through classical Indian dance, a skilled art form she began learning when she was just three years old. On Monday night, Ratnam performed her latest and most challenging work yet, "Seven Graces," a performance in seven parts and colors that explores the feminine archetypes through the character of the Buddhist goddess Tara.
To say Ratnam blends the undefined seems perhaps like irresponsible art jabber, but in her own statement, Ratnam herself explains "Seven Graces" is a performance about indefinite spaces and the unknown. "It's about the in-between spaces of performance and experience," she wrote. "There are many erasures, hidden and apparent."
Happily, Ratnam does carry this idea through her dance and even further beyond that. She is trained in Indian dance, whose earliest theories are traced back to 400 B.C., and is especially skilled in three of the seven classical dance styles - Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam and Kathakali. Yet, Ratnam frequently incorporates movements and gestures from contemporary dance and from the Western tradition. To the pleasant surprise of the audience, "Seven Graces," at once had the splayed fingers - interestingly enough, also a trademark of Flamenco dancing - and the powerfully elegent undulations that are part of the Bharatanatyam tradition, but also the interpretive, wide arm gestures and diagonal leg movements that are recognizeable from contemporary dance. The soundtrack changed suddenly from Tibetan chanting and chiming bells to Mozart's "Ave Maria," leading the audience to leap across the expanse from east to west.
In a nutshell, this is what Ratnam, does - she slides through the crevices of what is certain and blends the things that are undefined. And she does it through classical Indian dance, a skilled art form she began learning when she was just three years old. On Monday night, Ratnam performed her latest and most challenging work yet, "Seven Graces," a performance in seven parts and colors that explores the feminine archetypes through the character of the Buddhist goddess Tara.
To say Ratnam blends the undefined seems perhaps like irresponsible art jabber, but in her own statement, Ratnam herself explains "Seven Graces" is a performance about indefinite spaces and the unknown. "It's about the in-between spaces of performance and experience," she wrote. "There are many erasures, hidden and apparent."
Happily, Ratnam does carry this idea through her dance and even further beyond that. She is trained in Indian dance, whose earliest theories are traced back to 400 B.C., and is especially skilled in three of the seven classical dance styles - Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam and Kathakali. Yet, Ratnam frequently incorporates movements and gestures from contemporary dance and from the Western tradition. To the pleasant surprise of the audience, "Seven Graces," at once had the splayed fingers - interestingly enough, also a trademark of Flamenco dancing - and the powerfully elegent undulations that are part of the Bharatanatyam tradition, but also the interpretive, wide arm gestures and diagonal leg movements that are recognizeable from contemporary dance. The soundtrack changed suddenly from Tibetan chanting and chiming bells to Mozart's "Ave Maria," leading the audience to leap across the expanse from east to west.