Ignite Festival of Contemporary Dance 2015 presented by The Times of India comes to an end in Delhi

Delhi’s dance enthusiasts recently witnessed a week-long fiesta dedicated to contemporary dance at the Ignite Festival of Contemporary Dance 2015 – being held from January 11-18 – an initiative of Gati Dance Forum, presented by The Times of India in association with Sangeet Natak Akademi.
The festival was not just about performances – it included a series of discussions on contemporary dance in the three-day conference Joining the Dots: Points of Shift, Pause, Discontinuity and Rupture.On the second day, the session Three Questions, Three Discoveries – 2 had young practitioners sharing their work. Speakers like Nimmy Rapahel, a Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi dancer from Pondicherry, and Sanjukta Wagh, a Kathak dancer, talked about their engagement with contemporary dance. The performance that evening, Brittle Frames, was the result of an exchange programme between artistes from Bengaluru and Kashmir, drawing elements from real-life experiences and the artistes’ observation of the Valley.
Dancing Against The Wall Jayachandran Palazhy, Leela Samson and Parwati Dutta came together at Max Mueller for a panel discussion on the third day, to understand how dance is understood in different institutions in India. Jayachandran said that contemporary dance is constantly evolving and the artistes have to identify their needs and find a way to make themselves understood in the dance community. Samson, the former Censor Board chief, talked about the role of an individual in different institutions, be it a private or a government-run institution. The evening showed us an offbeat form of contemporary dance in Instituto Cervantes as part of Wall Dancing by Padmini Chettur from Chennai, where dancers engaged in a three hour performance along the periphery of a large room, where the audience could enter and exit at any time and were also free to sit, stand or walk around the space.
‘Hairy Arm Pitted Feminist’ There was a mixed bill performance on January 16, at Meghdoot 3, Sangeet Natak Akademi, where the piece by Cynthia Ling Lee and Shyamala Moorty titled Super Ruwaxi: Origins was a funny take on feminism with Cynthia enacting the role of a “hairy arm-pitted feminist”, who apparently has a magical gender-bending body odour which can help her overcome male oppression. It was a fun-filled performance, where at certain points the crowd roared with laughter. Venuri Perera, a Sri Lankan dancer, actor and choreographer, impressed the audience with her performance titled Traitriot. A serious piece, it explored what constituted and differed in the case of betrayal, non-conformity and disobedience. The audience’s attention was kept throughout by the dramatic changes in her movements and expressions. It was a very interactive performance and the audience participated as well.