Harbourfront Next Steps - CanAsian International Dance Festival

by Paula Citron.
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Program A and Program B
CanAsian International Dance Festival
Choreography by Hari Krishnan, Peter Chin, Wen Wei Wang, Soojung Kwon, Guru Sri Devraj Patnaik
Performed by Sudarshan Belsare, Peter Chin, Wen Wei Wang, Soojung Kwon and Jihee Son, Ellora and Devraj Patnaik
Enwave Theatre
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The annual CanAsian International Dance Festival is proof positive of the stunning works, both traditional and fusion, emerging from Canada’s multicultural mosaic. I caught Programs A and B which collectively featured five dances anchored in four different cultures. Each was a polished work that could take pride of place on any stage.

Hari Krishnan’s Uma was a stunning piece of bharatanatyam that had a man, Sudarshan Belsare, portraying a woman of the erotic devadasi or courtesan tradition. Another South Asian work, Kedar Pallavi, featured the talented brother and sister Devraj and Ellora Patnaik performing traditional Odissi dance.

Peter Chin’s Mind’s Hammer to an Indonesian gamelan score attempted to convey the illusive relationship between dance, music and energy. Soojung Kwon’s The Choonengmu Project duet married rigid traditional Korean court dance to western freedom. Kwon performed with Jihee Son. Vancouver’s Wen Wei Wang used dance to covey memory and illusion in his Chinese influenced multidisciplinary One Man’s.

It was a very rich evening of dance.

Photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann
(Sudarshan Belsare in Uma, choreographed by Hari Krishnan)