Dance
6 must-watch Indo-western song-dance crossovers
Gujarati singer Ishani Dave’s collab with breaking crew The Highest Examples is the latest in a growing trend of folk-meets-west performative art.
Cultural crossovers in terms of music and dance are very much a trend right now.
Indian and Indian-origin artists and performers with a classical base are coming up with new ideas to entertain their audiences. And this has given rise to expression that has gone beyond conventional boundaries.
Here we take a look at performance pieces where Indian folk/classical music has merged with western/urban dance styles, and vice versa.
‘Lemuda’ by Ishani Dave, with dance performed by The Highest Examples
While dancing to a folk song is not their usual style, breaking crew The Highest Examples managed to pull off this brilliantly, and also had fun while doing it.
B-Boy Nevermind who is a part of the crew says that the crew connected with the track as it is groovy, funky and Ishani’s vocal rendition appealed to them as they all found it engaging. “We’re used to performing on hip-hop tracks, so this particular song was a refreshing challenge. It was a great experience for all of us who were a part of this,” he says. He adds that unexpectedly, the routines they tried out lined up perfectly well with the song.
Recalling how they went about choreographing, B-Boy Nevermind says, “After listening to the song a few times, we sat together and planned out how we would approach it. The idea was to have our solo bits and the routines working alternatively so that each performer gets to do their individual part and still function as one of the crew. The beats for garba are different from hip-hop so it took a little adjusting for us. We had to adapt and do quite a bit of freestyling to be able to synchronise with this difference in beat style. To our surprise, there wasn’t much optimising needed beyond what we had discussed. It came together really well without too many issues.” He also mentions that once the crew realised how well their moves were going with the music, they all started to really enjoy themselves.
‘Uproar’ by Lil Wayne ft Swizz Beatz, with dance performed by Usha Jey
Released in May 2022, Usha Jey’s fifth episode of er series titled Hybrid Bharatnatyam caught the fancy of YouTube’s audiences. Switching between Bharatanatyam and hip-hop, Usha retains the essence of both dance forms by being as unique and natural as possible. Each dancer in her troupe expresses their individuality as beautifully and naturally as possible which makes this dance sequence engaging. She was also asked to perform an extended version of the choreography for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
‘Despacito’ by Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber, with dance performed by Svetlana Tulasi and Kumar Sharma ft Kathak Rockers
This sequence sees the dance collaborators give the English-Spanish pop song their own twist with kathak beats incorporated into the music, while thye performed the folk dance. Indo-Russian dancer Svetlana brought her own uniqueness to the choreography, having done kathak fusion dance covers previously as well. Her collaborator on this piece, Kumar Sharma, is known to have pioneered the kathak fusion style and hence is no stranger to this format. Each of them has brought their own signature appeal to the performance, which also makes it distinctive in its own way.
‘Dhanashree Thillana’ by Agam The Band, with dance performed by Team Anartana, choreographed by Simran Sivakumar
A well-coordinated effort, Team Anartana has managed to seamlessly bring in the essence of Bharatnatyam to this rock track by the Indian indie band Agam. The choreography by Simran Sivakumar is innovative, making it seem as though the track was tailor-made for her moves and not the other way round. Having received millions of views on YouTube, the performance has been applauded by the online audience through likes and comments. Most viewers have praised the troupe and Simran’s efforts, grace and coordination. While Bharatanatyam isn’t often performed to a fast-paced rock song, the dancers being perfectly in sync makes the dance fit like a glove on the music.
‘Shape Of You x Swalla cover’, with dance performed by Nrutyam Dance Academy
The track used for this performance is actually an instrumental cover with konnakol recitation. The music is brought to life gracefully by the dancers of Nrutyam Dance Academy. The aspects of the Indo-western fusion are portrayed by each of the dancers individually and as a troupe. It is another video on YouTube that has stacked up millions of views and positive comments.
Red Bull Presents Antariksha Sanchar by Avinash Kumar (Thiruda) and Sri Rama Murthy (Murthovic)
A trans-media project that had a multi-city tour, Red Bull Presents Antariksha Sanchar had a multitude of artistic forces coming together. It was the brainchild of visual arts director Avinash Kumar (Thiruda), who also provided live projections for the show, coupled with the musical intelligence of Sri Rama Murthy (Murthovic), who created an Carnatic-electronic soundscape, and Bharatanatyam exponent Jayalakshmi Eshwar, who choreographed the dance routine and directed the performance. The resulting live show was a dance opera inspired by the cultures of South India, which told the story of the space adventure visions of 20th century Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
