by Camille LeFevre
Minneapolis Star Tribune
February, 2004
The English translation of the Tamil word "kathambam" may be a garland of different flowers. But through the generous spirit and uncommon artistic sensibility of Ranee Ramaswamy, the word is also the inspiration for a cross-cultural linking of six dance styles, and a joyous celebration of the Twin Cities icons who practice them.
In Kathambam, Ramaswamy, a practitioner of the classical south Indian dance bharatanatyam and artistic director of Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, pairs her choreography with that of Susanna diPalma (flamenco), Wynn Fricke (modern), Joe Chvala (tap and folk), Lise Houlton (ballet) and Danny Buraczeski (jazz) in concert at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul.
This is no daisy chain of talent. Under Ramaswamy's direction, Kathambam is a constellation of stars, each one dancing with a purity of spirit as they offer their essences as people and as performers through their movement styles.
Appropriately, Kathambam is preceded by two traditional dances by the India-based choreographer Alarmel Valli. In these works, the intricacies, rigor and poetry of bharatanatyam are established.
Bho Shambho (Hail Shiva), a mesmerizing solo performed by Aparna Ramaswamy (Ranee's daughter), is a praise poem of rapturous intensity laced with texture, subtlety and articulate, picturesque gestures. In contrast, the rhythmic Thillana, for five dancers, is filled with large, open gestures, wide-legged lunges, complex footwork and marvelous little neck and head shimmies.
So when DiPalma opens Kathambam with hands flung overhead, wrists twisting, skirt swirling and feet stomping, the similarities between flamenco and bharatanatyam's percussive footwork and upper-body movements are clear. In this context, Ramaswamy has made her movements broader and more flowing, but next to flamenco they're still detailed and abstract.
In Fricke's gorgeous, modern-dance section, her whole body twists and tumbles as if weightless. Ramaswamy matches the rigorous beauty of Fricke's movement with rigid palms, arms that gather in and push out, and a sensibility of quiet harmony.
Chvala almost steals the show with his exuberant tap dancing, percussive foot rhythms, body slaps, yips and twirling of Ramaswamy around the stage. But Ramaswamy kicks up her heels and quickens her wrist twists as the two match head shimmies, turns and arm moves.
The mood changes swiftly when Houlton steps onstage to booming organ music, then slinks into a luscious solo of long, floaty limbs and sweeping movements. When Ramaswamy joins in, her foot slaps, arm rotations and finger articulations are the punctuation for Houlton's sinuous phrases.
Buraczeski is the essence of graciousness as his moves caress the space and give physical form to the music. In a single, simple gesture, he conveys both the weight of years and a lightness of being. When Tamara Nadel and the two Ramaswamys join him, their splayed fingers stretch heavenward, then straighten into arrows in a moment that's definitive and stunning.
