Shibaranjani celebrated its 20th anniversary at Gyan Manch on February 7 by presenting Saundarya in collaboration with Open Doors. Katia Marlot, a French ballet dancer, portrayed the central character of this dance-theatre based on the fairy-tale Cinderella with swirling movements and sudden poses. The presentation, however, lacked the characteristics of a dance-theatre with no sign of theatrical portions. The stepmother was depicted by the choreographer-dancer Dipanwita Roy, and Priyadarshini Roy, as godmother, were both successful. But the puppet godmother was proved nothing but a gimmick and the male dancers lacked expression. As there was no message at the end, one fails to understand the reason behind giving the fairy-tale a different name.
Sulagna Mukhopadhyay
Calcuttans remember the exhibition of traditional Chinese paintings organised in the city a couple of decades ago. The pictures exhibited on the occasion were expectedly rendered in water colours and appreciated as such. The recent show of contemporary Chinese oil paintings at the Victoria Memorial Hall was perhaps not up to the expectations of the city’s cognoscenti. If there are many who admire traditional Chinese art as a thing of the glorious past, there may be many more people who will have been dismayed by the none-too-edifying trend of the neo-globalisation of art which seems to have ensnared today’s artistic activities in that country. After all, mere technical dexterity cannot hide the pale face of mimicry. Even the specimens of abstractionist art (viz., Chao Ge’s Landscape or Liang Zongmeng’s Mark) betrayed the same phenomenon.
Samir Dasgupta
The aim of contemporary dance is to introduce unique forms of self-expression. Although contemporary dance shares a few traits with those of aerobics, it is more lyrical and rhythmic. Padatik Contemporary Dance Centre organised their winter show at Gyan Manch. They began with a number Bombay Dreams, ably choreographed by Gilles Chuyen, a French composer. It was enigmatic. The second phase was a collection of foot-tapping re-mix songs like Kaanta laage and Saaian dil me,in which the participation of children was incongruous. The carefree, geometric Rock Jazz,by Kenny Loggins was the best of the dances performed in this phase although the Jungle sequence was a bit absurd. Such things might be entertaining for the toddlers but not adults.
SM
