Bharatanatyam Ballet Premieres Nov. 14 & 15: Shilpa Torvi’s New Work

Shilpa Torvi presented her choreography in the IDF@SV Festival Concert, Aug. 16, 2015, and also in the Showcase performance for the IDF Choreo-cubatorĀ© artists. Now it is only a week until the world premiere of her major new work, La Bayadere. There are two performances, both at 4 p.m., at the Jackson Theater, Ohlone College, Fremont, CA. Ms Torvi found an exciting, creative approach to combining elements of Western classical ballet and Indian classical Bharatanatyam dance. She bases her work on La Bayadere, a French ballet which is about an Indian temple dancer. In her choreographic experiments this summer, she also explored using the stage space in ways more associated with Western classical dance. Bharatanatyam can be very linear. Its positions derive from sculptures on the walls of ancient temples. Western classical dance makes more use of the depth of the stage space. Ms Torvi has experimented with space. It’s an exciting way to open up the visualization of a story that is jumping through space across continents and through time from ancient India to Nineteenth Century Europe to the present. The flyer pictured below has ticket information for what promises to be a wonderful dance experience.

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