Soul Fight

When noted choreographer Dani Pannullo from Madrid visited Thiruvananthapuram in 2012, he was in search for inspiration for his new work. Once in the city, he was so awestruck by the movements of the martial artform of Kalaripayattu that he decided to put it forward in a language that marries contemporary with traditional in his dance project, Soul Pait . The performance will be staged at Kamani Auditorium today as part of the eighth Delhi International Arts Festival. The performance by three Kalaripayattu fighters and three dancers from Spain will show an amalgamation of urban street dancing and Kalaripayattu. The performance also incorporate the famous hand spins and back spins of b-boying along with this.

Forty seven-year-old Pannullo, the artistic director for the production, reveals that the title of the performance translates into “the fight from the soul”. But he prefers not to call this 60-minute production, presented by Dani Pannullo Dance Theatre Co., a fusion between urban contemporary dance and the age-old regional martial form. “I prefer to call it defusion. I love to show things in my way and the traditional forms in their way and not change their essence, thereby making a strange communion. Dance can sometimes be more powerful than politics,” says Pannullo, an ardent follower of British-Bangladeshi artiste Akram Khan.

Born in Argentina, Pannullo, who is known in the international dance circuit for his contemporary and urban vision of ancestral traditions, is of the view that “traditions are integral to modernity”. Perhaps this is why he chose to experiment with the flamenco, modern Japanese dance form called Butoh that came into existence after World War II and the dance of the whirling dervishes in Egypt. “As a choreographer, I need to know the new moves but deep inside I always try to incorporate tradition,” he says, who did an intensive search across different villages and countless kalaris or Kalaripayattu schools, for his dancers.

One of the reasons for Pannullo to include urban street dance in the piece, he says, was that a number of moves in b-boying have been incorporated from martial arts. “We go to the roots of roots,” says Pannullo, who wants to respect both the artforms equally during the performance.

The performance is at 6.30 pm today at Kamani Auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg. Contact: 43503352