Bharatanatyam may be the world’s most inherently poetic dance form. A south Indian classical dance that originated in Hindu temples more than 2,000 years ago, it is a distillation of thought, emotion, story or image into illustrative gestures. Combined with percussive use of the feet, balanced poses and intricate facial expressions, these gestures are poetry in motion.
Minneapolis choreographer Ranee Ramaswamy is one of this country’s foremost practitioners of the form. Since cofounding Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, she has astounded audiences with works that expand one’s perceptions of dance, cross-cultural collaboration and spiritual meaning.
In “Where the Hands Go, the Eyes Follow,” Ramaswamy returns to the solo aspect of Bharatanatyam with stunning results. In collaboration with six poets, musician Howard Levy and photographer Marc Norberg, she has created an evening of work that surpasses all expectation. So generous, expressive and spiritually uplifting are these solo dances, they are arguably her best work to date.
Inspiration for “Where the Hands Go” started with three Robert Bly poems. Ramaswamy then collaborated with Norberg to create 12 images, four for each poem. The poets took their inspiration from the photographs. Levy, a Chicago pianist and harmonica player, sketched out music that helped Ramaswamy choreograph dances to the poems. For all its intricacies, this multilevel collaboration is seamless and deeply affective.
On the back wall of the performance area in a stark, intimate Walker gallery is Norberg’s photo collage: closeups of Ramaswamy’s face and hands. On one side of the space is a Steinway piano. On the other side sit the poets: Jim Moore, Janet Holmes and Patricia Kirkpatrick (who read Jane Hirshfield’s poems) on Friday and Saturday nights; Bly, Mary Easter and Coleman Barks today. Ramaswamy performs in the middle, eschewing the traditional sari, long braid and ankle bells for her own short hair, bare feet and long jersey dress.
The concert begins with Ramaswamy’s solos to the three Bly poems, to recorded sitar music. These solos are classic Bharatanatyam, beautiful expressions of sadness, humor and sensuality.
Ramaswamy’s dances to live readings of the new poems follow. On Friday night, Holmes poems were the most literal, and interpreted as such.
It’s with Moore and Hirshfield’s more soulful, imagistic poems that Ramaswamy‘s artistry soared. Moore’s “Your Dark One” deals with bridging the mysteries of the self, and Ramaswamy’s gestures were lovely and illuminating.
