Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company – The Drishtikon Dance Foundation (India)
Concept and Choreography: Aditi Mangaldas
Dancers: Aditi Mangaldas, Gauri Diwakar, Rashmi Uppal, Shubhi Johari, Minhaz Khan, Sunny Shishodiya, Manoj Sonagra, Gaurav Bhatti and Tripti Gupta
Musicians: Ashish Gangani, Mohit Gangani, Minhaz Khan & Sunny Shishodiya
Vocals: Faraz Ahmed
Part I LIFE CELEBRATED: UNCHARTED SEAS / Classical Kathak
The last one year has accentuated the value of the word LIFE. The essential quality of the infinite is its subtlety and its intangibility. UNCHARTED SEAS captures the essence and search for that which cannot easily be given a name and seeks the essence of LIFE, which is so fragile and yet such a wondrous gift.
Standing alone; looking out at the distant stars; feeling our heart beating within us; life being celebrated around us, have we not wondered, what is it all about? What is life? What lies beyond the realms of the known? What lies beyond what our mind can perceive? What lies hidden in the deep recesses of our heart? UNCHARTED SEAS explores the meaning of LIFE in all its magnificence.
“We look for fixed points, but there are none, either in ourselves or outside in the universe. To live without these fixed points is our challenge.” J. Krishnamurti
Part 2 LIFE INTERRUPTED / Contemporary Dance based on Kathak
"We have always believed that life is a continuous flow. But the current pandemic has made us confront the fact that we were mistaken, and that life is constantly and ever being interrupted. These interruptions appear like a dam on a flowing river that has suddenly appeared out of nowhere. We end this program with LIFE INTERRUPTED as currently around the world there has been heartbreak and devastation, and life as we knew it, has been interrupted.” – Aditi Mangaldas
BROKEN is an extract fr om the larger production WITHIN. Wherein one looks at how the human spirit struggles when the spine is broken constantly. Yet the human spirit continues to thrive even though stifled and interrupted often. The pandemic has shown us a sense of isolation and exposed our vulnerability. Do these times compel us to look 'within'? To recognise our deepest, most complex emotions. To explore our innermost spaces which are waiting to be disentangled.
PARALLEL JOURNEYS is an extract from TIMELESS, in which we explored the fundamental question, ‘What is Time?’ Today, it seems that time is parallel, all our journeys in parallel lines that are unable to meet, wh ere each of us are living in isolated universes and parallel time zones. A rhythmic barrier becomes an intangible separation between two entities that cannot have physical contact. Ending with each of us in concentric circles that continue to be in motion with the hope that someday; somewhere soon; the trajectory will change, and they will become interconnected, and life will continue as we knew it before.
