Dilip Barman
The 85th annual American Dance Festival (ADF), the oldest and largest festival dedicated to modern dance in the country, runs June 14-July 21, 2018, in Durham, NC (mostly but also a few shows are at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh). There will be 53 performances in 7 venues by 26 companies and choreographers from around the world.
Aparna Ramaswamy of Ragamala Dance Company is slated to perform at ADF this year.
I had photographed, met, and reviewed and interviewed Aparna Ramaswamy and her Minnesota-based Ragamala Dance Company when they performed as part of ADF in July 2012 (see my July 2012 article in Saathee). Aparna and her mother, Ragamala founder Ranee Ramaswamy, were trained in Bharatanatayam and use this classical Indian form in collaboration with diverse, internationally accomplished artists like poet Robert Bly and jazz musician Howard Levy.
In 2012, they presented Sacred Earth; as I wrote then, it “celebrates the connections implicit in our daily lives that help us transcend the mundane and bridge to the divine. Sangam poetry, describing how wedded humans are with landscapes; the kolam ‘painted prayers’ of Southeastern India, ephemeral designs made from rice flour and put on the front porch providing a daily link between the household and the universe; and ancient wall paintings of the Western Indian Warli people are all integrated into Sacred Earth. Accompanied by South Indian musicians, the dance starts quietly and contemplatively, building to an affirmation of interconnectedness.”
On many levels, I enjoyed the troupe last year. Their advocacy of ancient forms and history, kept alive and offered in a vessel accessible and open to but not corrupted by modernity, and presented so beautifully captivated me. This year, ADF has commissioned a work as part of the Friday July 13 (8p) and Saturday July 14 (7p) Wondrous Women program at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, featuring five female choreographers presenting solo dance. In addition to Aparna Ramaswamy, Camille A. Brown, Michelle Dorrance, Yabin Wang, and Rhapsody James will be presenting works.
ADF offers something for all tastes and ages, including children. Regulars like Pilobolus, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company return, and several new debuts are included, such as the hard-hitting solo Brown presented by Murielle Elizéon that explores resilience, loss, and violence against women.
ADF tickets go on sale on May 1. Full details on tickets (including some attractive discounts), as well as all things ADF, are available at www.americandancefestival.org.
