“How do I write a dance review? I haven’t done it before. Heck, I cannot even move my limbs without drawing attention”, I said when asked to write this review.
“You don’t need to know to dance. Just write how the performance made you feel”, someone said.
“Go in with all your senses”, came another quick response.
So, I went. Guarded with my senses, an open mind, a little note pad, and a sharp pencil.
Chapter Art’s Seligman theatre was fully packed on the closing night of Idrissa Camara’s- Spirit of Nimba. When I was first heard about this performance a few weeks back, I wondered what it meant. I expected a normal dance performance, where the music plays and the dancers, with their shiny costumes and synchronized movements and emotions, take you on a journey. The music fills your hearts with joy, and the rhythmic beats make you sway in your seats. Minutes into it and I knew how naive I was to have under-estimated Idrissa’s team and their potential.
The performance begins with Lucy on the violin, Suntuo on the kora, and Mark on the drum kit. The music they create is soft and mellow, and the audience holds on to the melody enraptured. It offers a great entry point for our lead, Idrissa’s opening solo performance. Covered in white clothing, he looks like a kite flying and fluttering in the wind. Grounded, and yet at liberty. Anchored and yet unconfine from the shackles of life’s uncertainty. His body moves with the music effortlessly as he begins his story. With lurching big leaps and arms wide open he forges a spiritual connection with his surroundings and let it wash over us all.
The performance explores the waning human connections and our increased self-absorptions. How as a species we are moving away from each other and desperately filling the voids with materialistic things that neither give us peace nor happiness. How day-by-day we see less kindness, empathy, and tolerance among us. How we are too distracted to reach out, to listen, and to enjoy the simple joys of life. The performers – Kim, Ofelia, and Edward- along with Idrissa take us on a journey to celebrate the fragility and beauty that is life.
As the performance progresses, we witness the theatrical prowess of not only the main protagonist, but all the other performers. The entire team is insanely talented. They keep surprising us with one act after another. They dance, act, sing, and play around on different instruments from the kora to bolom to djembes to krin, with such spontaneity and ease, all within the hour, and yet not a beat out of place, not a performer out of breath. While the emotions and the energy in the theatre keep shifting, our gazes are transfix and our hearts racing.
My personal favourite moment is when Kim opens the third act in her solo performance. She floats through the entire stage like a serpent. Her movements are delicate and decisive. She could have hypnotised a crowd with her motions. My second favourite is Edward’s infectious energy and smile throughout the show. His rapport with the audience and other performers is unparallel. His dance moves are vibrant and alive and stands out from the rest. The next person who absolutely blew my mind is Suntuo. He is the dark horse of the team. He slowly wins over the crowd with his vocals, and his dynamic performances on the kora and djembes. Behind his coy smile and calm demeanour (and dangerous good looks), there lives an artist who can give an explosive performance and make you yearn for more.
The performance becomes tight when Idrissa recounts his struggles and hopelessness as an artist and a dancer, during the pandemic. His emotions and quavering narrations mirror the collective agony and frustration we felt during the lockdown very well. How we were helpless and succumbing to a great extent, to an invisible virus. How it sucked the life out of us all and left us in confinements with our inner demons. The disruption of normal life, loss of friends and families, the race of desperation to stay alive rears its head again through his act and the tense sentimental music and sits like a hard cold stone in my throat.
Soon Idrissa picks up our shattered hearts and joins them with the divine sounds from his bolom. It is at this moment when I finally realise that Spirit of Nimba is a tribute to human resilience and courage. A sincere imploration to connect with each other- with love and patience. A celebration of life through movements, sounds, and nature. A journey where we can find our purpose – but only together with everyone else. A joy of letting go. A successful attempt in turning pain into inspiration.
The performance ends with the performers inviting the audience to join them in this celebration. Children, elderly couples, young men and women, everyone begin to dance, hug, and smile with each other. The music gets louder, dance moves more erratic, and our rough edges become softer.
I was promised that the show will gladden my heart. Well, it did more than that. It gave me a glimpse of how a post pandemic world should look like – considerate, compassionate, and full of hope.
khimpidutta 