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ShareDance is all about communication -- says Marin Leggat. Archita Wagle gets the message
People jumping around on stage, sudden leaps, mad twirls -- it seems as if like chaos reigns. But there is a strange rhythm and grace to the performance, a beauty in the story being portrayed.
The story-teller is Marin Leggat, US CultureConnect envoy and founder of MELD Danceworks in New York City, in Mumbai for a contemporary dance production.
Leggat, who studied ballet and jazz, was fascinated by contemporary dance while in her teens. She found that it "opened my mind to personal expression". Working in tsunami-affected villages in Sri Lanka in 2005, Leggat met Indian contemporary choreographer Terence Lewis and they have been "in correspondence since" which culminated in Light Traces.
It took two years to put together the funding for Light Traces, a performance that takes a look at "things in our life that we know exist and are real, but that we can't see. It is an exploration of spiritual identity, influences, values and traditions." Presented as abstract images, the production follows a non-narrative, non-linear style.
The mood and content of her previous few productions was also centred on spiritual identity, but the uniqueness of this one is its choreography, which blends the "different values chosen by every individual in the group in a motif which creates a longer phase of movement". Leggat has also experimented by "trying to create a quality of softness in the movements of hands and arms that is seen in Kathak and Bharata Natyam".
The georgette costumes of the dancers in tones of blue, green and brown which "have a flow in them, also depict the ethereal theme and airy feeling".
To complement her theme Leggat has chosen music with a rhythmic and ambient feel. A passionate music lover with a huge collection of soundtracks to choose from, she has orchestrated Light Traces with pieces linked by "a specific kind drum beat".
And the dance that blends two cultures continues...
Light Traces, July 3, American Center
(Passes available with Terence Lewis Dance Co or St Andrews Auditorium, Bandra)
