Review: AMAZING INDIA 2019 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Ray Smith, Saturday 6th April 2019.

This presentation, Amazing India 2019, from the Kalalaya School of Indian Performing Arts, attracted a very healthy audience to the Dunstan Playhouse, many of whom were dressed resplendently in brightly coloured, traditional Indian garb.

The show began with an introduction by Master of Ceremony, Akhil Menon who offered an acknowledgement of country to the Kaurna People, the traditional owners of the land on which the Festival Centre sits, before leading us into a video presentation of the past achievements of the Kalalaya School, and a recognition of the many sponsors who support it.

The entire wall behind the stage became the video screen for the presentation and was used to great effect during the show itself as images of Indian landscapes, buildings and sacred images lit the stage behind the performers.

The performance proper began with a devotional prayer and chant praising the Sun and the universe, that sounded traditional but was in fact composed by the Artistic Director of Kalalaya, Ramesh Menon.

The first of the dance performances was very much a traditional work and the seven dancers who took to the stage to perform Bharatnatyam, a prominent dance form from the south of India, were dazzlingly costumed in vibrant, primary colours as the stage lights reflected from the wrist and nose jewellery and ankle bells. These were the older students of the school and presented the work with great precision that spoke of years of practice in this difficult and exacting art.

The narrative of the story of the deity, Lord Ganesha, told without words but beautifully expressed through subtle movements of hands and eyes, as the backdrop displayed shifting images of the elephant-headed God of New Beginnings.

It was difficult to take in the whole scene, as the beauty and subtlety of the dancers was too appealing to the eye to allow it to wander. The dancers' movements were so precise, in fact, that I found myself focussing on just one of the troupe of seven, knowing that the other six were in perfect synchronicity with her, so that I could fully enjoy the complexity of her hand and eye gestures. This was a demonstration of hand-eye coordination that went to the next level.

We were reminded that this was a school presentation when another Bharatanatyam dance was offered by a large group of toddlers. Their costumes were no less ornate, bright and colourful than their older counterparts, and these tiny dancers captured the hearts of every member of the audience and were greeted with great whoops and whistles of joy and encouragement. If the applause at the end of their charming performance was a little louder and more sustained than that offered to the more accomplished dancers, I think that the audience can be forgiven.

The traditional gave way to the contemporary as a number of songs and dances from the Bollywood genre were presented. Whilst I have a very limited experience of the phenomenon that is Bollywood, many of my fellow audience members had a much broader one, and howled their approval at each piece as the first bars began. I heard more than one person sitting close to me joining in on the songs and clapping along to the dance rhythms.

Most of the music we heard was recorded, and very well produced, but there were a few pieces played live along with a backing track. This was the weakest point of the show and I found myself wishing that the pieces had not been offered at all.

The playing of every musician was mediocre and lacklustre, at best, downright dreadful at worst. I kept reminding myself that this was a school concert and that the majority of the players were students, but the adult musicians were also not of a high standard. Having been an instrumental music teacher for more years than I care to remember, I was disappointed by this aspect of the show.

The audience. however, enjoyed every second of it, and if there were a large proportion of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers amongst them, why shouldn't they.

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