Dance knows no boundaries

Chetan Datar''s Haravele Pratibimb (Lost Reflections) would undoubtedly be included among the best plays of this year''s Prithvi Festival. Datar experimented with the Rang Nritya (Dance Drama) form with a modern play — "Why should it be confined to mythological plays?" he asks.
How would Mahesh Elkunchwar''s old play Pratibimb (done in Mumbai by Satyadev Dubey and others) lend itself to a classical dance presentation?
The combined efforts of Datar and choreographers Rajashree Shirke, Vaibhav Areker and Leena Datar, plus the loads of dark humour in the original made this ''no-props'' production very entertaining.
Arekar plays the hapless man who finds his reflection missing from the mirror one morning, Shirke (a wonderful performance) is his irrepressible landlady who keeps coming up with hilarious thoughts and suggestions about how he could deal with his predicament.
His leftist colleague and a woman from his office, who has also lost her reflection, pop in — not to mention his impish reflection who runs around and turns cartwheels. How all this is expressed through classical dance has to be seen to be enjoyed.