Dance Dramas By Anikai Dance Theatre From USA

Anikai Dance Theatre Company is the most recent incarnation of choreographer Wendy Jehlen's company that has been evolving since 1998 in India, Italy, Japan and the U S. The group will perform two dance dramas "Forest" and "He Who Burns" on 2nd February at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. It is being presented by A P State Film, TV & Theatre Development Corportation, Department of Culture, in association with Abhinaya Theatre Trust and Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly.

Forest

Forest is a dance work of pure physical theater. The forest mirrors the human psyche where many stories, many emotions exist simultaneously. The storyteller opens a door to this world. We enter it for a moment and glimpse only a part of these eternal tales. Forest, a work of seven dancers, takes us into the archetypal world of the forest.

He Who Burns

He Who Burns is an exploration through movement, text, video, and music of the figure of Iblis (Satan) as understood in some Sufi traditions. Through this lens, the dance-theater piece explores the nature of humanity's relationship with the divine, the eternal quest for unity and the illusion of duality in the human experience. He Who Burns takes our notion of good and evil, the divine and the satanic, and turns it on its head. There are three characters in the dance piece - Iblis, Allah and Adam. Iblis is the greatest lover of God, the truest monotheist.

The group's performance will be choreographed by Wendy Jehlen, a contemporary dancer and choreographer. Her unique approach to movement incorporates elements of a wide range of dance and movement styles.

Jehlen has studied the Indian dance forms of Bharata Natyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi since childhood. While an undergraduate at Brown University, she was introduced to Butoh, Capoeira, West African dance and a wide range of modern and contemporary dance styles.

Jehlen also collaborates with deaf performers and poets, and uses the language and aesthetics of American sign language poetry in her choreography. Jehlen's emotionally powerful choreography has been performed in the United States, Europe, India and Japan. Her work is influenced by her study of storytelling, literature and performance theory.

Entry is free for everyone. Please Gadde Srinivas Rao at 93911-11622 for further details.