For a double-header weekend of theatre at Adishakti, the two shows could not have been more different.
After a theatrical adaptation of an Armenian poem on Saturday, the show that followed on Sunday featured ‘Gestures of Belonging’, a movement performance choreographed by Aditi Bheda.
As the lights dimmed on the stage, Aditi and co-artiste Madhushree Basu unleashed a series of movements that transcended a mere exploration of physicality to portray how powerfully expressive even simple gestures can be.
Shape-shifting forms flit across the stage, bending, kneeling or arching backwards, locking and unlocking arms. Even the simplest of acts such as that of a woman letting slip her hair or rolling it back as a bun turns into a choreographic high point.
And, just as the performance toggles between the eerie background score and silence, light and darkness, the artistes too alternate between stillness and movement.
“I have always been fascinated with the movements of the human hand. Hands that cling, grip or clutch in moments of stress, hands that hold tight. It (the show) is an exploration of the displacements the body undergoes before culmination of a gesture or before the hands settle to a touch,” said Ms. Bheda, who is a dancer herself.
Ranjeet Hegde has scored music that perfectly aligns with the mood while lights were handled by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Lalitha.
‘Gestures of Belonging’ is also a production that emerged from the grant-linked Take Flight initiative of Perch Collective in Chennai last year.