Innovative techniques in traditional dance form have become popular in India as well as abroad. Pakistani dancer Sheema Kermani?s choreography at Rabindra Sadan on November 19 was an attempt in the same direction. Her performance was part of the Pakistan Cultural Night organised by the Pakistan-India Peoples? Forum for Peace and Democracy and the Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

The Tehrik-e-Nisswan in Karachi was founded by Kermani solely to express her thoughts and emotions through her style of art. She showcased a few numbers along with her students Minha and Shama. All of them danced in fluid, swaying motions in Kathak, Bharat Natyam and Odissi style. Sheema?s agile movements, reaching every inch of the vast stage of Rabindra Sadan and yet maintaining poise, was delightful.

Costumes, a very important part of any performance, were aesthetically designed for Sheema?s presentations. However, her choreography on Tagore?s Chitta jetha bhaya shunya could not catch its salient points. Inspired by various Indian classical dance styles, what she tried to depict was not very clear; it was just a melange of different dance forms, but the culmination of her analysis reached nowhere.