Baroque to Bharatanatyam
Baroque to Bharatanatyam
An exploration of music and dance from India to Europe
Across the world, the history of music is intimately intertwined with the history of dance. Musicians and dancers have always worked together in dances of all kinds, from the cross roads to the temple or the opera house stage. This concert brings together two dancers in very distinct traditions, with the music of their dances, finding the threads in common and the distinct beauties between European Baroque dance and Indian classical dance and music.
In the Baroque era some of our lasting favourites spring from the dances of the period, Handel’s Water Music hornpipe, or Bach’s solo violin allemandes. Bharatanatyam, a form of Indian classical dance from Tamil Nadu has thousands of years of history in its wake.
The two dance forms meet in the eighteenth-century through their instruments - with the introduction of the violin to South Indian Carnatic music coming principally from composers who wrote for Bharatanatyam dance. In Europe, the small, light, and loud violin was also the favoured instrument of dancing masters as they taught their bourrées and menuets. Brought over to India by East India Company ships and Western missionaries, the violin was adopted by some of Carnatic music’s finest composers to use in their own styles and eventually became a solo instrument with an important impact on music for Bharatanatyam.
This concert brings together two renowned dancers of their respective traditions - Western early dance specialist Mary Collins, and Master Bharatanatyam dancer Bhavana Anand (both with Cork connections), to explore their own historic art forms and find their intersecting paths, introducing Western Baroque styles of dance to Indian music and Bharatanatyam choreography to Western Baroque music.
With a Western ensemble of baroque strings, including Marja Gaynor, Caitríona O’Mahony and Norah O’ Leary, and a Carnatic ensemble including vocalist Sruthi Ravali and mridangam player Abhishek Vas, this concert brings to life two vibrant stories of movement and rhythm from opposite corners of the world.
Mary Collins is an early dance specialist whose research and teaching approach has inspired musicians to look afresh at the dance music which is at the heart of the (Renaissance and) Baroque repertoire bringing, in turn, a fresh perspective on the great composers of the baroque era.
Reviving original choreography and gesture for historical performance, Mary promotes a vibrant, multi-disciplinary approach to music making, valued by artists and audiences alike.
A practitioner and researcher, she performs regularly with the London Handel Players and Florilegium, giving master classes, lecture-recitals and workshops to dancers and musicians throughout the world.
Bhavana Anand has recently moved from Bengaluru to Cork with her husband. She is an award-winning Indian Classical dancer who has performed in over 1850 shows in over 15 years, acclaimed for her engaging stage presence, grounded rhythmic sense and gripping expressiveness.
She has a Masters Degree in Indian Tradional Dance Bharatanatyam and a senior degree in Kuchipudi - another Indian classical dance form. She was a classical dance teacher in the renowned Rashtrothana Vidya Kendra school, and also had her own dance school. Since moving to Ireland she has taught at schools including Joan Denise Moriarty School of Dance and performed at events from Phoenix Park to Cork City Hall.