New York in the grip of Indian dance fever

4-day festival Erasing Borders brings 15 troupes from around the world together


NEW YORK: The four-day Erasing Borders Indian dance festival got New Yorker’s warmed up with two open-air shows in bustling city locations and then segued into sold-out evening performances at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre in Manhattan. There was something to suit everyone, whether it was an eloquent Odissi and Bharatanatyam recital or a funky modern Bhangra artist.

The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) brought together 15 dance companies from all over the world for the four-day festival ending on Thursday.

“It has been exciting to curate this festival from over 80 companies that applied from India, United States, London, Canada and the Far East. We have included established as well as emerging performers. Their dancing brings us a taste of diverse forms, styles and gharanas of South Asia,” said guest curator Uttara Coorwala.

Some of the dance companies moved between classical and contemporary styles without missing a beat. Lata Pada choreographed a stately Bharatanatyam recital, Kalinga Nartana, for Toronto’s Sampradya Dance Company and also created Howzaat!, a lively work about cricket. “At first the cricket references were not clear even to this Englishman; later all the running, catching, bowling, fielding became too obvious. But the prime pleasure was that this was always a real dance and that the six female performers, all dressed in cricketing white, were all so vivid,” said dance critic Alastair Macaulay in a review in the New York Times.

Other works—Pipaasha, by Ananya Dance Theatre Company; an excerpt of Tides of the Moon, by Thresh; Nomadic Still, by Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company; and an excerpt from Quebasian Rhapsody, by Sinha Danse were efforts to connect Indian and Western dance genres.

“We hope this dance festival will act as a catalyst to raise awareness about Indian dance and bring more Indian dance companies into the limelight,” said “Erasing Borders festival director Prachi Dalal.

The borders between Indian dance and the West have been crumbling. Outside the nightclubs, gyms across the US, including the hugely popular Bollywood Axion and chain of New York Sports Clubs are offering ‘bhangra masala’ aerobic and dance classes.

There is a serpentine queue to get into Indian dance instructor Pooja Narang’s Bollywood Axion in Manhattan’s bustling Times Square. “I probably get 60 to 70 emails and 20 phone calls every day from people wanting to sign up,” Narang told DNA.