Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Going beyond
And so the figures in black linger, long after the event is over. Thoughts buried deep surfaced in the faces of five women in monologues written by Nisha daCunha and directed 8212; as a reading 8212; by her son, Rahul daCunha. The short story, quot;Set My Heart in Aspicquot;, from her latest collection, deals with death as much as it does with life. No, I would not call it depressing, though many at the reading felt that way. A strange kind of bonding evokes hope; and a strong sense of place, of the ancestral home, makes you feel no one ever leaves 8230; we just return to the place, as if for the first time.
Canada calls
With Namaskar, choreographed by Chandralekha, and performed by 13 dancers of the Toronto Dance Theatre, Mumbaikars witnessed, once again, an inimitable style that infuses traditional martial art forms, such as Kalarippayattu, with contemporary energy. Chandralekha8217;s salutations to gods, to earth, to cosmos, were followed by a stark piece performed by dancer Laurence Lemieux, created by the artistic director of the company, Christopher House. The Toronto Dance Theatre is undoubtedly one of the leading contemporary dance ensembles in Canada with the goal of quot;engagingaudiences in an imaginative dialogue 8230; hoping they will be provoked, moved, intrigued, disturbed, transported8230;quot;
I certainly experienced a range of emotions in a programme mix designed to ride on the waves of changing moods inspired by the music of Robert Moran, Claude Vivier and Johannes Brahms. It showcased an enormous talent that goes beyond defining modern dance in Canadian terms. The Canadian identity, threatened by its proximity to America, has sought, over the years, to find its quot;selfquot;. In my years spent with Canada8217;s artistic community, the question invariably was: Is there enough Canadian content?
Small matters
The foreign media8217;s response to our novels has been a topic of much debate since Arundhati Roy8217;s The God of Small Things won the Booker. There was much hype there, or so we heard. But for those present at the seminar on quot;Indo-German perspectives on contemporary Indian literature in Englishquot;,Professor Bernd-Peter Lange8217;s talk was an eye-opener. quot;The German media8217;sinfluence is very powerful on the uninitiated,quot; he said. The quot;great marketing effortquot; for Roy included appearances on all German TV stations. quot;The author8217;s beautiful facequot;, together with the exotic locale of Kerala, found a place in student, news and fashion magazines, portraying her as quot;the confident, new womenquot;. Naturally, this did not go down well with some academics and writers here, who debate the literary merits of her book.
The last word
Said Ms Vulture to Ms Culture:
quot;Close encounters of the write kindquot;
is being organised at Prithvi.
Write a play, be quot;discoveredquot;
by the powers that be.
