Astad Deboo pays tribute to legendary poet-author Rabindranath Tagore with a lyrical dance narrative that joins classical and contemporary forms.
Nothing seems impossible for Astad Deboo. The 64-year-old manages to defy the limitations of body and space in each of his performances. His latest choreography, Interpreting Tagore, is another such piece which presents a beautiful amalgamation of Indian classical and modern contemporary forms.
Performed in Mumbai last week, this lyrical dance narrative was part of the ongoing 150th birth anniversary celebrations of the legendary poet-author. Deboo performed to some of Tagore’s most memorable poems, such as Ekla Chalo Re, Your Grace and Every Fragment of Dust is Awakened. Adding to the magic of the evening was the music by Italian composer Frederico Senesie and singer Amelie Coni.
“In 1995, I had performed a solo on Tagore, so this year I revisited my work and created an altogether different piece to commemorate the legend,” says Deboo. Through this piece, he also tried to avoid the clichéd dance-drama routine that is usually associated with a work centred on Tagore. “I connect with him in my own way and that is exactly what I wanted to showcase to the audience. My interpretation of Tagore,” says Deboo.
And joining him this time were eight talented boys from the Salaam Balak Trust (SBT). Deboo not only supports the NGO but has also been mentoring the street children from the trust for the past three years. He believes that some of them have made enough progress to take a leap into an Astad Deboo choreography. SBT is not the only organisation that he is closely associated with. In the past, he has worked with Action Players, a group of hearing-impaired actors in Kolkata. His style of working with them was unique: Deboo would teach only on a wooden floor, thus enabling the actors to pick up the vibrations of the movements.
In 2005, he even took a group of 12 women with hearing impairment to perform at the 20th Annual Deaf Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. Taking such initiatives forward is the Astad Deboo Foundation. It aims to provide creative training to both the abled and the disabled.
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Hailed as one of the pioneers of contemporary dance in India, Deboo’s signature style is characterised by intense focus, concentration and technical virtuosity along with a distinctively Indian aesthetic of evoking rasa. It is this distinctive style that impressed the legendary rock band Pink Floyd so much that it led to a collaboration way back in 1969 at Chelsea Town Hall, London. However, Interpreting Tagore is slightly different from some of his previous pieces. While some of the earlier works were more to do with the basics of balance and the infinite capabilities of the body, this one was characterised with the use of alternative forms of theatre, puppetry, poetry and world music in a unique way.
Deboo plans on taking Interpreting Tagore to various venues across the country. The troupe is scheduled to perform in Bangalore and Delhi as well. “We are also going to be performing at the Kala Ghoda Festival,” he says.
