by Mike Steele
Minneapolis StarTribune
Staff Writer
April, 1998
Ranee Ramaswamy’s forays into cross-cultural dance are increasingly fascinating. A leading choreographer and dancer in the classic Indian Bharatanatyam tradition, Ramaswamy has been resident in the Twin Cities for 20 years. Acknowledging both her roots and her life in the West, Ramaswamy has drawn connections between the elegantly sumptuous, percussively expressive style of her classic dance and the dances of other cultures, Western and Eastern, that share the stages of the Twin Cities.
She brought a good number of those styles together in “Chaturam,” in one of her most fascinating and beautiful concerts yet.
The latest entry in the O’Shaughnessy Dance Series is a bold and gutsy performance in which Ramaswamy has created dances, all unwaveringly rooted in Indian styles, to music ranging from Mexican pre-Columbian to Japanese Taiko drumming. She shows the variety of choreographic possibilities within the Bharatanatyam style and the ease with which that style connects to far-reaching cultural forms.
In “El Misterio,” she creates a slow, sculptural dance (one thinks of Indian temple friezes) that travels around the stage in a stately self-awareness--carefully precise hands and feet, a very articulate shaping of space--as Armando Gutierrez and Gustavo Lira play a wide variety of instruments, from shells and pipes to percussion, that summon up sounds¾owls, the seashore, flapping bird wings¾based on indigenous Mexican music.
From there Ramaswamy moves to a fast-paced rhythmic dance for nine dancers to a “Thillana,” a rapid composition by Nirmala Rajashekhar (also an expressive singer), accompanied by drums and, most interestingly, Nancy Lesh’s cello played Indian style. It’s a complex but energetic dance that captures an aspect of Indian show biz in its outgoing openness.
“Four From One Hundred” is danced to Gao Hong’s virtuoso Pipa (a mandolin-like instrument held upright). Ramaswamy and her daughter, Aparna (who has become a sensationally charismatic performer), dance traditional interpretations to ancient Chinese poetry, acting out the words precisely and literally. The final poem, however, is a hula danced by Hawaiian native Marcus Quiñones and it’s a wonderful contrast, Quiniones’ hips undulating as, knees bent, he dances close to the floor, his gestures every bit as articulate as Ranee Ramaswamy’s (if her interpretations are specific and literal, his cover larger pictures with swooping gestures).
And “Flying Horses” is another outgoing, rhythmically energetic group work, this time danced to Japanese Taiko drumming created by Theater Mu’s Rick Shiomi. It’s a vital number built around the large, muscular movements of the troupe’s only male, Kats Fukasawa, a dramatic dancer with a strong, confident bearing and an amazingly expressive face. Another culture is represented in the costumes of Mary Hansmeyer, modern interpretations of classical Indian dance clothes, only in lighter fabrics and bold, primary colors, giving the dance an American brashness that seems quite appropriate.
