Throughout my entire dance career — which now spans almost 20 years — I have taken exactly one Indian dance class. That day I was treated to a two-hour workshop introducing me to classical Indian Bharatanatyam as well as Bollywood dance. I emerged from the class as I do from so many others, sweaty and fulfilled, but I also had a different feeling. I had reached a precipice, beginning to dive into new ways of moving that I hadn’t — in all my years of dancing — ever experienced before.
I had this feeling for a second time recently, as I left The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts after seeing Blue13 Dance Company perform. Blue13 is a contemporary Indian dance theatre company directed by Achinta S. McDaniel, who is also a lecturer at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. The company, originally founded in New York City in 1999, has been based in Los Angeles since 2001. During their debut performance at The Wallis, I caught a glimpse back in time to my first and only kinesthetic experience with Indian dance. But I also saw parts and pieces of dance techniques I know well. For me, these new movement possibilities opened the door to a beautiful cross-genre dance pollination.
Several months ago, a friend from college shared a photo on Instagram. It read: “White supremacy in dance is making ballet and modern a requirement to receive a degree, but dance forms originated by people of color are all electives.” This gave me pause. I considered not only the Indian dance class I took, but the smattering of other classes — reductively deemed “cultural” or “world” dance — that I had taken throughout the years. They were all offered as either electives or token opportunities, unlike my required twice-per-week ballet and modern classes.
Because of this photo — which was created by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dancer J. Bouey —I’ve been thinking a lot about the movement possibilities that have been missed due to a colonial approach in dance education. While I can’t deny that I’ve been fortunate to receive excellent dance training— with a college program that was more progressive in this area than many — I wonder how my artistry, and the artistry of so many others, could have been changed and enhanced by a deeper education base in dance forms from all cultures, races, and ethnicities. Blue13 showed me these possibilities.
The company presented a triple bill, featuring two world premieres — F*ck “Fusion” (version 2), or, “How to/not to be Adequately Indian” and Terpsichore in Ghungroos —and an older piece of repertory, Diya aur Toofan. McDaniel’s choreography is a testament to her diverse dance education base — she has trained extensively in ballet, jazz, tap, modern, hip hop, Bhangra, Kathak, and Bollywood. The innovation that her work brings to the stage provided me with an answer to my question about how artistry can be enhanced by diversity. The answer is yes, and much.
Blue13 questions the lines that we use to divide dance into categories, the lines that denote what is diminishingly called a “fusion” or “cultural” dance form. The company breaks these arbitrary lines, showing us there is no need for them. Blue13 dancers, clad in vibrantly adorned costumes and ghungroos (bells worn on the ankles in traditional Indian dance forms), whirl across the stage, swaying their hips in time to the beat of the drum, pausing only to balance in perfect arabesques, topping off their poses with the intricate arm, wrist and hand positions that come from classical Indian dance. McDaniels’ choreography shows us how much can be gained by a deep understanding and exploration of multitudes of dance styles.
In the evening’s title work, Terpsichore in Ghungroos, Blue13 addresses and reclaims the colonial narrative and its dominion over the dance world. During the first part of the work, titled “Dear Mr. Khan,” the dancers wear short, flowing white dresses. Such costuming is common in contemporary dance, but Blue13 dancers deviate from the norm with the addition of ghungroos. Their movements are velvety soft and lyrical, and each footstep is made audible by the bells that embellish their ankles.
The second section of Terpsichore in Ghungroos opens with a single dancer on the stage, arms and legs folded into her chest, with a hoop skirt confining her like a cage. Her arms vibrate, as though electrified, as she tries to free herself. Though she eventually breaks away, the hoop skirts follow the dancers for the majority of the work, like shadows, never fully allowing them freedom.
By the end, however, Blue13 has reclaimed the colonialism that formerly bound them. The dancers confidently saunter out onto the stage, hoop skirts slung under their arms. Upon first glance, it appears they have burned the skirts that earlier confined them. The new skirts are deep ebony black, as opposed to their former snowy white, and when the dancers don them, their movement is anything but bound. They move freely, commanding the skirts to do their bidding, and the skirts obey.
The work of Blue13 is a call to revise the traditional dance canon. The conversations within the dance education system are the right conversations to be having. The innovative work of companies like Blue13 is a testament to what is possible when these conversations move beyond talk, to tangible changes, to narrative changing dances.
Photo: Blue13 Dancers (left to right) Jackie Buckmaster-Wright and Jainil Mehta perform in the world premiere of Terpsichore in Ghungroos.
Credit: Kevin Parry, Courtesy of The Wallis