How Padmini Chettur and Preethi Athreya built a platform for contemporary dance in Chennai

About a decennary ago, artistes Padmini Chettur and Preethi Athreya, perceived a discernible vacuum successful the city’s modern creation scene.

The 2 performers, whose signifier began successful the 1990s, thin to prosecute with creation done concepts, conversations, contemplation and multiplicities. Their enactment seeks not lone a cardinal and tangible narration with the assemblage done movement, but besides an intimate doctrine that defines their creativity.

When spaces to prosecute with this doctrine began dwindling, the 2 dancers ended up answering a clarion telephone — 1 that stemmed from need.

“There seemed to beryllium nary level for choreographers successful the city, particularly arsenic festivals began moving to places specified arsenic Bengaluru. Preethi and I were ever conscionable doing everything ourselves — producing our enactment and organise our ain shows,” says Padmini.

Over coffee, the 2 dancers, equipped with pencils, papers and laptops, spoke astir the commencement of March Dance’s archetypal variation successful 2017, the maturation of the festival and everything that drives them to proceed conducting this yearly event.

In its ninth edition, March Dance has evolved from a humble showcase of 3 works to a multidisciplinary platform, spanning 3 days, facilitating sermon and creator growth. This twelvemonth the amusement has been curated by Basement 21 and Goethe Institut, successful practice with Alliance Française of Madras, InKo Centre and Prakriti Foundation. It volition instrumentality spot connected March 16, 20 and 21 astatine Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai.

If 1 indispensable beryllium reductive, past this variation volition spot performers from antithetic parts of the satellite exploring desire, ageing bodies, migration and Mizo people tales. But that is not all. March Dance promises a week of “dynamic and thought-provoking encounters celebrating modern creation successful each its diversity”.

Padmini and Preethi had worked unneurotic successful the Basement 21 collective, established successful 2011. “The catalyst for March Dance was to find a model that could clasp Basement 21’s idiosyncratic initiatives and approaches astatine dance-making. This led to the thought of a festival that could bring the assorted strands of B21 initiatives into 1 space. This was successful 2017,” says Preethi. She recalls that dancers expressed a tendency to execute successful Chennai, prompting her and Preethi to see a collaborative approach. “Why don’t we conscionable enactment 3 modern creation works together?” Padmini recounts, explaining their determination to organise each other’s enactment and foster “a consciousness of a assemblage curating itself, not conscionable a azygous artiste.” The inaugural lawsuit featured Padmini’s ‘Varnam’, Preethi’s ‘Jumping Project’, and ‘Queen Size’, a portion by their long-time person and workfellow Mandeep Raikhy. They performed 2 shows each, creating a mini festival that revealed a “real request and necessity for thing similar this.”

From its humble beginnings, the festival rapidly recognised the value of engaging dancers beyond specified spectatorship. It began conducting workshops, gathering connected the occurrence of the 1 led by Pravin Kannanur and Maarten Visser, 2 different founding members of the Basement 21 collective. This determination was besides strategic. Padmini notes, “the Bharatanatyam assemblage was ne'er interested, and adjacent 10 years aboriginal determination is zero interest. But we request to physique an audience.”

Preethi elaborates connected the philosophical underpinnings of the Basement 21 collective, which predates the festival. Established successful 2011, the corporate aimed to code a vacuum for artistes who did not acceptable into the accepted creation forms. She adds, “There was nary sermon astir the contemporary. The treatment was truly centered astir the classical and experimentations thereof. Whereas we spot the modern arsenic having its ain morganatic past and discourse.”

The corporate initiated 3 cardinal activities: Encounters, interdisciplinary workshops and collaborations with creation galleries. ‘Encounters’ provided a harmless abstraction for young choreographers to contiguous fragile and unformed work. The interdisciplinary workshops, arsenic Preethi describes, were places wherever “you did not person to beryllium a morganatic anybody to travel and effort something.” These workshops aimed to interruption down disciplinary silos, encouraging dancers to prosecute with ocular creation and musicians with dance, addressing a “lack of curiosity from different fields”. The collaborations with Focus Art Gallery progressive pairing creation displays with euphony and discussions, encouraging a deeper engagement with creation objects.

Preethi emphasises, “It is not conscionable modern dance, though some of us, being who we are, clasp this festival unneurotic and truthful it is creation specific.”

Over the years, the festival has evolved to see a “lab” component, recognising the deficiency of ceremonial acquisition and documentation for modern creation successful India. Preethi explains, “We don’t person a schoolhouse oregon a assemblage wherever you tin spell and larn the past of the signifier oregon a peculiar choreographer’s approach.” The lab, which varies each year, aims to span this gap, offering mentorship, residencies and opportunities for choreographers to make their probe and practice.

This year’s lab, focusing connected “dance dramaturgy,” is peculiarly unique. Preethi and Padmini person invited Rustom Bharucha, a renowned show studies scholar, to pb a store exploring dramaturgy beyond its accepted theatrical context. The workshop, unfastened lone to choreographers, aims to supply a model for knowing and applying dramaturgy successful modern dance.

Additionally, Dramaturgy of Production by Danile Kok, Dance Nucleus Singapore, volition behaviour a store connected the pragmatic aspects of accumulation for autarkic artistes.

The festival’s curation process is meticulous, involving a assemblage of 3 to 4 radical who shortlist applicants. This year’s lineup includes ‘Prime’ by Avantika Bahl, featuring dancers successful their 60s and 70s, looking astatine the narration betwixt question and the ageing assemblage connected March 16. ‘The Double Bill’ connected March 20 features ‘Is’ by Puneet Jewandah and Ajay Parche and ‘Paradox of Platypus’ by Joshua Sailo and Abhaydev Praful.

A item of this year’s festival is simply a committee with Korean dancer Jee AE Lim, from Berlin who volition collaborate with Indian dancers. Padmini, who was connected the assemblage that awarded Jee AE the Pina Bausch Fellowship for Dance and Choreography, was captivated by her unusual task exploring North Korean creation techniques. “We’re not conscionable bringing thing readymade but besides inviting Jee AE with her questions to unfastened it up”. Jee AE volition execute with Akila P, Sravanthi V, Vikram Iyengar and Pallavi Sriram, aft a collaborative workshop.

Despite the challenges, Padmini and Preethi stay committed to the festival. Says Preethi, “It’s a responsibility, but it’s besides a heavy desire.”