Sandbox Collective presents a “non-verbal performance” titled Say, What?. Created and performed by Avantika Bahl and her collaborator Vishal Sarvaiya, the show will be staged at Shoonya on November 24 at 7.30 pm.
“Say, What? is a “rare show” that has been created for a mixed audience, hearing and deaf,” explain the organisers and we get curious about the title and ask Avantika about Say What? “It is a take from sign language, where the question always comes in the end. Like ‘your name what’ is how you would sign it with your hands. I was interested in the play of the words and chose the title,” says the dancer from Mumbai on telephone.
Avantika started learning the Indian sign language out of “curiosity as I wanted to learn a new language. My teacher was deaf too and was teaching me how a sign depicting a simple words like ‘clever’ can be used in various contexts and I was fascinated,” says the dancer, who also adds that she found a “lot of abstraction in the action of sign language itself -- the way we use our hands showed a lot of movement. So, I asked my sign language teacher to introduce me to a deaf dancer and that is where I met Vishal. We started by having conversations before we took off on this production.”
Vishal is also trained folk dancer and has danced with Shiamak Davar dance company.
What is a non-verbal performance? “It means there is absolute silence through out. There will be no text nor sound, but just movement. Having music would be contrary to the work we are presenting as I work with a deaf dancer. The performance is done in silence and brings a hearing person into a space that is really rooted in just viewing the deaf world for a while. It is an opportunity to cut off one sense and heighten the other– visual perception.”
The show was earlier staged at Old World Theatre Festival in New Delhi, and after the Bengaluru show, it will be staged in Goa at The Serendipity Festival.
Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com.