‘-Scape’ at Ranga Shankara preview: A long-distance dance duet

Hemabharathy Palani will be performing a dance duet at Ranga Shankara on March 16. She will, however, be the only person on stage. You will see her co-dancer Ryu Suzuki’s pre-recorded video from Japan. The video will not be a mere recording of his dance. You get to hear him share his life — about his favourite Doraemon toy, his fear of water among other things. And, Hemabharathy’s performance will be a response to Ryu.

The two dancers, separated by time and distance, will exchange their stories, cultures and lives through their art. This separation and an inexplicable intimacy, typically shared between two penpals, form the crux of -Scape, produced by Japan Foundation and Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. In the performance, you get to see how a topic evokes starkly different emotions within two people. Hemabharathy explains with an example: “Ryu is afraid of water. Even in a public pool, he feels there might be sharks out there to get him. Whereas, I love jumping into water. I have a lot of strong memories from my childhood related to water. For me, water means purifying.”