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Martha Graham Dance Company's principal dancer trains Ravan!

Former principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Stephen Rooks, was in town to help choreograph a production of Dashanan. Yogesh Pawar caught up with the man

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Stephen Rooks strikes a pose; (left) choreographing SNDA’s show, Dashanan
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The 24 dancers are in position. The music is cued. Celebrated American dancer Stephen Rooks begins counting, "1, 2, 3…" when he stops abruptly. "Damn! I could get sued for that in the US," he says, moving his foot away in the nick of time from a dancer whose hair is spread out on the floor as she effects an intricate dance step.

The class breaks into mirth. Despite the punishing schedule of three classes a day, this 61-year-old has clearly not not lost his sense of humour. "Let's take it from the top," the former principal dancer from the Martha Graham Dance Company (MGDC), calls out, grinning from across the studio at dancer-choreographer Sumeet Nagdev with whose academy, the Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts (SDNA), he's collaborating for the third time.

In Mumbai for only six days, Rooks is not only conducting intense workshops in the Martha Graham Technique, repertoire and choreography to teens and adults with prior intermediate level of dance training but also helping choreograph SDNA's show, 'Dashanan', on April 28.

Rooks says the act, which looks at the 10-headed king of Lanka as a metaphor for the way man falls victim to his own ego, is "unlike anything" he has done before. "If this was purely a mythological representation, I would have asked off since it would not be my space."

Nagdev's interpretation got to him. "When Sumeet discussed the fall of the mighty warrior, each head representing another low of arrogance, pride, vengeance, cruelty and so on, I was intrigued and agreed to work collaboratively."

Nagdev says he was inspired to work on 'Dashanan' because of the times we live in. "People like to use broad brush strokes when categorising people as good or evil. Only, life's rarely like that. Even the most vile person can have a streak of something really good or a paragon of virtue may suddenly do something dreadful," he explains.

On the floor, their styles complement each other. After all, Rooks taught Nagdev choreography at the MGDC in 2008. "I was in total awe of his style and technique. I once followed him from school all the way to the train station, getting off at the same station as him only to talk to him and explore if he will come to India to work with me and my students," Nagdev recounts.

That bit of 'stalking' worked and set in place an association. Rooks first came to SDNA in 2009 and then in 2012.

Rooks modestly brushes aside praise from Nagdev and his students. "Sumeet has the benefit of being trained in the traditional classical style too. This means that he is able to blend both Western technique and this style beautifully. Even as I choreograph, I always factor this aspect into it. It is too beautiful to waste."

He remembers how one of his earliest teachers Greg Reynolds did the same for him. "I was pursuing music but wasn't too good at it. I took to dance very late in life, after my music graduation and it required a lot of hard work to get even the basics right."

Rooks is currently resident choreographer and associate professor of dance at Vassar College and a founding faculty member of the Dance Degree Program at Howard University, He is also a guest instructor at Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham Schools of Dance, an artist-in-residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts and a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

After training in New York as a scholarship student at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Rooks went on to dance and tour with the Greg Reynolds Dance Quintet, the Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Peter Sparling, Dancer's Eye, and the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble.

"I still wonder how I got an invitation to be part of the Martha Graham Dance Company in the summer of 1981," the man, who has performed for Michael Jackson himself, offers modestly.

When asked about his many international accomplishments he just points skywards and says: "I can only thank Jesus!"

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