Dancing the Moods: Ragas, Makams and Dastgahs

As a dancer and also someone who had started out an academic career originally in Psychology as the primary discipline, I am perpetually interested in the "moods" and psychological states affected by performance.  The raaga system within classical Indian music has a number of ways of classifying music, and one of these is by the psychological state evoked by each Raaga. In addition, the rasa theory from the Natyashastra treatise, which also links the performance to the evocation of a specific mood within the spectator, also holds a significant centrality for the classical Indian performing arts.

In the context of classical Odissi dance, we dancers work with highly structured repertoire pieces, which are composed by our gurus, and senior gurus of our lineage traditions (gharanas).  For me, in the context of Odissi dance, the moods/ragas theory has been an entry point into conceptualizing an overall mise-en-scene for a piece or production. In 2013, when I performed my feature-length solo show "Corpus Matris" at the Toronto International Fringe Festival, I performed the repertoire choreographed by Guru Durgacharan Ranbir.  I wanted a dynamic relationship between the dance and the lighting design, and this was where the ragas and relationship to mood came in.  My show began with "Vajrakanti Pallavi", one of Guruji's beautiful and distinctive compositions (pallavi is an abstract dance within the Odissi repertoire). One of my former mentors, Sushree Mishra Kar, from Calgary, who is both a classical Odissi dancer and Odissi singer, sent me more information on the Raag Vajrakanti's classification on the mood theory,  and that it considered to be a "melancholy" raaga, associated with late night/early morning times. This information I provided to my lighting designer, Parker Nowlan, to help structure an overall mood for this section of the performance.   

Photo above: from "Corpus Matris" (2013), Theatre Passe-Muraille Mainspace, Toronto. 

Lighting Design: Parker Nowlan

In 2016, when I visited Turkey under a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, in order to study several different dance forms of Turkey, I had the privilege of undertaking a lesson in Turkish Makam Theory under Okan Ҫakmak of Istanbul.  To me, it felt like the learning of dance tradition would remain incomplete without knowledge of the music, and its philosophical and aesthetic bases.  Ҫakmak had been Mike's clarinet instructor for Turkish style clarinet, and with this being the common ground, Mike and I took this lesson together. It was fascinating to learn about the music theories of Al Farabi and Ibn Sina, and also that most of these makams were associated with zodiacs as well as psychological and physical states.  

Another choreographic study I did earlier in the year was "A Study in Dastgah Shur", based upon the Persian modal system of music (dastgahs). I presented sections of the piece in April 2016. Once again I found myself intrigued by the theory of specific moods being evoked by the different dastgahs.  

Mike and I currently involved in a number of music-dance projects and collaborations. Among these was "An Encounter in Hicaz," which we presented a few times in Toronto. We also continue to collaborate on a longterm project, titled "Vignettes of Sringaar", in which I aim to bring in some of my study of rasas and moods.

Our most active project is  Ensemble Topaz, a music-dance ensemble featuring a trio of dancers, and several musicians. Among my favourite performances this year with the Ensemble has been the CNE International Stage in August.  Tomorrow (September 29, 2016), we have our presentation for Culture Days at the Annette Street library, from 1:00-2:00 pm, featuring some of our musicians, and a few of our dancers, playing select pieces of our repertoire. We have been told that there will be school classes visiting our presentation and we greatly look forward to sharing our work with the next generation! For more information on Ensemble Topaz at Culture Days:

https://culturedays.ca/en/2016-activities/view/5735fb68-3c68-413d-abaa-1c364c4a89be

New Adventures in Music and Dance II: Ensemble Topaz

It has been six months into the adventure called Ensemble Topaz, an integrated music-dance project jointly co-led by myself and musician/composer Mike Anklewicz, and tomorrow we perform at the CNE International Stage. Earlier this year, I had written a post titled "New Adventures in Music and Dance", in which I had mentioned that this year would be a signal year marking collaborative work between Mike and myself. The post was written a few days before our performance at Artist's Play Cabaret, where we performed a music-dance collaboration drawing on Indo-Central Asian dance aesthetics, as well as Mike's improvisations drawing from his background in jazz and klezmer as well as drawing on some of his study of Turkish scales in Istanbul last year with Okan Cakmak.

About a month after this February performance, we brought together the first version of Ensemble Topaz, which performed at The Tranzac, where I performed as soloist to some of the songs played by live the band. I also accompanied on zills to a few of the songs, sitting in with the band, as opposed to dancing. I am sharing here a few photographs from this first performance, taken by Ken Dobb.

From there the Ensemble expanded; as choreographer, I invited two  dancers, Stephanie Stella and Angelica Marrett, both of whom I have danced with previously in different ensembles- I first met the both of them when they joined The Saucy Tarts, Toronto's very own troupe of high-kicking cancan dancers. I had also had them both in some of my other dancing ensembles, including Ekakshara Dance Creations and Dilan Dance Company. The dancers of Ensemble Topaz then went on to perform some more events, private, corporate and public. 

This is a photo of us taken after our performance at a lovely wedding at Centennial Hall, at Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex within the CNE grounds earlier this month. 

Among our repertoire is songs choreographed to the original music compositions of Mike Anklewicz from the KlezFactor album "Europa", released earlier in July this year, and this was one of the events where we danced to the fun song "Vibrations" from this album! (For more information about KlezFactor "Europa", please visit http://klezfactor.com/klezfactor-europa/) We will also be featuring "Vibrations" among our set at the CNE, as well as some more work from KlezFactor "Europa". In the meantime, the musicians of Ensemble Topaz also played a special performance at the Klezmer brunch at the FreeTimes Cafe in downtown Toronto. 

As choreographer and dancer, this shall be an interesting time for me. The repertoire for this set has been choreographed in different international cities. The set  features a dance for which I had initially conceptualized the choreography in the hotel rooms in Berlin last year, during the beginning of the KlezFactor Europe tour. 

Another of the dances, "Cosmo Alex", also an original song from KlezFactor's "Europa", was choreographed in Toronto and Netherlands last year, for performance during the earlier half of our Europe tour last year. It had both its danced and musical performance debut at the beautiful Decinska Synagogue in Decin in Czech Republic, where we performed at the Lenka Lichtenberg and Friends Concert with the beautiful Lenka. This piece too had initially been created and performed as a solo. Subsequently, Mike and I performed duet versions of this piece in a few other places, both within and outside Canada. The piece was first reworked as a duet for Angelica and I for our performance at the Global Village Festival earlier this year, and then eventually was reworked as a trio featuring all three of the  Ensemble Topaz dancers and will be performed tomorrow at the CNE set as a trio. 

Fun times and looking forward to tomorrow! 

For more fun and dance adventures, join me at the Afghan-Tajik Pop Choreography and Spicy Bollywood Dance Workshops at BellyUp Oakville on October 23! For details, information and registration, please visit: https://bellyup.ca/?q=oakville/workshops/paromita-kar-workshops-bollywood-afghan-tajik-pop

Dance and Music Adventures in New Directions!

Tomorrow, February 27, at 7:30 pm, Mike Anklewicz and I present  the beginnings of a new direction of our work together! I am deeply inspired by a song, based on a verse by Sufi poet Omar Khayam Rubai from his "Rubaiyat". I first heard this as a song six years ago, and have heard several different versions of this song  since then, and branching from this inspiration, Mike and I are working on what will be the beginnings of a new project, rooted deeply in Indo-Central Asian aesthetics, and extending to other world dance and music styles.  

I keep returning to several elements I learned choreographically during my study, thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Professional Dancers, at the Dicle University State Conservatory Dance Department in Diyarbakir, Turkey under Gönul Özturkman. Over a brief stretch back in Istanbul, I also had incredibly interesting lesson with Timur Mashkadan and Merve Kural from the Istanbul Kafkas Dance Company. 

We perform the beginnings of this project together tomorrow, at the Artists Play a Cabaret..The Winter Edition, hosted and curated by Elizabeth Snell, at Artist's Play (401 Logan Avenue, #201) (For more info: www.facebook.com/events/1547938648853415/)  

Dancing the "Vostok" (Orient) in the Soviet Central Asian Courtyard

In my travels through Turkey, a fascinating item on the shelves in grocery stores in Istanbul caught my attention. It was "Hindustani Salami" ("Indian salami"?). It was salami seasoned with spices (with curry flavouring possibly included), and perhaps this was the "Hindustani" aspect. This was one among several products in grocery stores that had the label "Hindustani". This made me realize that there is an exoticizing of a further "orient" even as we go east, and that the "Orient" exists in relation. It also makes me think of how the historio-cultural construct of "the Orient" relates to India, and the complexities of this.

I was reminded of this recently, when watching videos of Malika Kalantarova performing dances of a further east.  Kalantarova was a beautiful dancer known for her musicality and knowledge of Central Asian dance forms. Born into a Bukharian Jewish family in Tajikistan in 1950, she became one of the most celebrated dancers of the USSR and Central Asia, before moving to New York in the early 1990s. She was best known for her specialization in Central Asian dance forms, and was given the title People's Artist of the USSR,

There are several archival films of her performing different dances of Central Asia throughout her Soviet career, and some of her performing dances of India. Here is a video:

I find this video interesting because there are some definite references to movement vocabularies from certain classical Indian dance styles. There are also certain distances from other aspects of the dance forms. Here is yet another one:

Malika Kalantarova had travelled widely during the course of her career, touring with her husband, Bukharian-Jewish doira player Ilyas Bukharov (who was awared title of Honoured Artist of Tajikistan). Did Kalantarova learn these dances or was inspired by local dances during her stay in India during her tours? The archival videos are not dated. Bios of her mention her being featured in a few Bollywood films in the 1970s.  Bollywood itself forms a fascinating locus of Orientalism, Occidentalism, and several other -isms, and I may revisit this idea itself in the near future. While I know of a few films during the 1960s and 70s which featured Russian actresses (these were Indo-Russian film collaborations), I could not find the ones which featured Kolantarova. On a somewhat tangential note, Kseniya Rabinkina, who acted in the film Mera Naam Joker (1970), revisited India in 2009 for the making of the film Chintuji, and worked alongside Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor after 40 years. Rabinkina, who plays a circus trapeze artist in Mera Naam Joker, had a career as a Bolshoi ballerina in Soviet Russia.

To me, Kalantarova's Indian dance performances are fascinating as both a cultural and artistic artifact, especially in the context of how "Orientalism" relates to India. Alfrid Bustanov, in Soviet Orientalism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations , states that the Soviet notion of Orient (Vostok) covered all Asian countries as well as northern Africa (xiii). Kalantarova, as a performer of Jewish origin traversing through the Soviet cultural and political landscape, is definitely an interesting performer to study in the context of this.

Studying Dance in Turkey- The Diyarbakir Diaries

Continuing on my brief series of blogs on my dance study in Turkey this year, I now write about some of my experiences in southeastern Turkey- in the fascinating province of Diyarbakir. The city of Diyarbakir, a two-hour plane ride from Istanbul, is the capital of the Diyarbakir province, and is among the largest cities in southeastern Anatolia. It presents both a geographic and cultural landscape quite distinct from Istanbul. While Istanbul is on the sea and has fairly humid but somewhat temperate weather, Diyarbakir is landlocked, dry (and also beautiful) and dusty, and during our stay, the temperatures averaged to over 40 degrees Celsius.

                                                    at the old City Wall



As part of my study, we were guests of the Dicle University State Conservatory, and lived on campus at the campus guesthouse. We were greeted at the airport by a wonderful member of the Music faculty at the conservatory- Prof. Shahin- who plays Zurna as well as several other instruments, and specializes in folk dance as well. Over a delicious breakfast, he explained to me the different rhythmic/stylistic dance zones of Turkey.

He then took us over to the home of another faculty member, a thorough and patient teacher, Gonul Ozturkman. Gonul and her husband Ozgur are both well-established and well-known folk dancers, choreographers and teachers, and both on faculty at the State Conservatory. That afternoon, Gonul taught me classes on Ciftetelli and Zeybek and the Halay. I found her to be an intuitive and wonderfully interactive teacher, and she also patiently explained to me some of the background information about these dances.

The next day, we had class at the Conservatory, and I got a chance to visit the Dance Department there, and also had class in the conservatory studio facilities. We worked some more on the Zeybek and also had class on Azeri dance.

                                          Class at the conservatory studio with Gonul


I also showed Gonul a bit of my own Indian dance, and she showed me a parallel dance form with gestures for the everyday work of rural women as wells as women's self-ornamentation.

The following day, we again returned to the State Conservatory studio, and worked more on Azeri dance. I also met with the Dean of the State Conservatory Folk Dance Department- Prof. Gulbeyaz, who also graciously took us out for a delicious dinner and post-dinner coffee. He specializes in several different dance techniques, and has led several competitive teams internationally. I truly found the hospitality of all the faculty members and our new friends/colleagues in Diyarbakir wonderful.

 During my stay in Diyarbakir, I became especially fond of the Diyarbakir cheese, which we were able to get at breakfast at the university guesthouse each morning. I also truly enjoyed the warmth and hospitality extended to us by Gonul and Ozgur, as well as Prof. Gulbeyaz. In addition to teaching me the dances, they took us around to see some of the striking historical monuments and natural landmarks of the region.

We saw the great wall of Diyarbakir, with a sort of fortress inside it. This is a fascinating wall, surrounding the city, and is the second longest in the world, after the Great Wall of China. The wall has a door facing each city, and these doors/gates are named after these cities, such as "Urfa Kapi" facing in the direction of Urfa.

This fortress has a huge echoing domed ceiling inside it! This is photo I took of this domed ceiling from the inside.

The fortress also has a small cafe inside it, as well as a vendor selling beautiful local handmade clothes as well as dance costumes!

Our next stop was the On Gozlu Bridge, or the "Ten Eyed Bridge", named after its ten arches. This was another fascinating structure, built on the Dijle River. On the other side of this, we can see the construction of new buildings. 

To me, it was also fascinating to see the Tigris River. I had not initially realized that "Dijle" was the local name for the Tigris River. I had learned in school that the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris had been the cradles of civilization, and it was a strange and incredible feeling to realize that I was looking at one of these rivers, and to learn dance on a city situated on the banks of this river.

We also got shown around some of the new parts of the city, including underground shopping centres, and wonderful eateries and cafes, in both the old and the new parts of town. One of the most interesting of these was the Diyarbakir Culture Garden Cafe, which was a wonderful family cafe with outdoors seating in the evenings. 

One of our friends in Turkey told us- there is Istanbul, and then there is the rest of Turkey. I found this to be so true not only for getting a taste of the culture of the land, but also for an immersive experience of dances from Turkey. While I love Istanbul, and find it a truly vibrant city, I found Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey also rich in history, heritage, music and dance, and ofcourse, the wonderful spirit and warmth of our company there! 

Studying Turkish Roman dance in Istanbul

For the past week, I have been in Istanbul, Turkey, to engage in a deeper study of the Turkish Roman (Romani) dance form. This is the first time that I have been engaged in an immersive study overseas, outside of my classical Indian Odissi dance training in India under Guru Durgacharan Ranbir and my research on the Debaprasad Das style of Odissi. Turkey was also one of the stops along the series of travels with my partner, musician-composer-ethnomusicologist Mike Anklewicz this summer (spanning the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Germany). I currently write from our apartment in Sultanahmet. Today is our last day in this apartment, before a brief journey to southeastern Anatolia, after which we return to Istanbul.

Since earlier this year, I have also been engaged in a dance ethnography-based project, on Turkish Roman dance. I presented a preliminary version of the research at the "Beyond Gypsy Stereotypes: Voicing Romani Pluralities" Conference hosted by the Initiative for Romani Music (IRM) at New York University. The conference gave me the opportunity to also connect with a number of scholars on Romani music and dance throughout Central Europe and the Balkans. 

We arrived here on July 1 (Canada Day!). The very next day, I went to Reyhan Tuszus, who lives in the Gazi Osman Pasha district of Istanbul. I had first heard mention of her name in the videos by New York-based dancer Dalia Carella, whose instructional DVDs and VHS of her own signature Dunyavi dance creation were my first exposure to Turkish Roman dance. 

My first day of study took me to Reyhan, who teaches by example. We danced in her living room space, and she executed movements which I followed. It was an enjoyable and informative lesson, and she also gave me a sense of what is important, proper and improper in Turkish Roman dance. 

I returned to Reyhan for an extended lesson a day later. This time, we had more time to also connect and catch up a little. Reyhan told me about a Bollywood movie she really enjoyed as a child- "Nagina" starring Sridevi. Ofcourse it was a movie I had watched growing up in India in the 1990s! We had an enjoyable time together, both dancing and connecting. I also had a chance to meet Reyhan's two daughters, Gulizar and Malta. 

On the following day, Mike and I traveled to the seaside district of Tuzla, one of the outermost districts of Istanbul on the Asian side. Tuzla is about a 2 hour journey from Istanbul, and it is a beautiful, relaxed seaside town.

Photo Credit: Mike Anklewicz 

 I was in Tuzla to learn from Aydin and Goksu Elbasan. I had heard of this extremely talented dancing couple from a wonderful dancer and dance teacher at the " Beyond Gypsy Stereotypes: Voicing Romani Pluralities" Conference at New York earlier this year. I found Aydin and Goksu to be incredibly warm, and their class was extremely informative. Aydin played the drum and sang to accompany the class, and they both also demonstrated the movements for me. I learned more about nuances and the movements indicating communication between the dancers and the musicians. 

Aydin and Goksu both demonstrated movements, and Aydin additionally played the derbouka and sang while Goksu demonstrated and taught me movements. They also often showed me the different corresponding movements for men and women during the dancing. 

We also tried a number of different spatial approaches- dancing in a circle, dancing facing the mirror, and dancing in a duo. Here, I was also able to learn some of the cultural contexts of  these movements.  Aydin's father, who passed away some years ago, was a noted zurna player, and we also practiced to some of his recordings. 

I was truly glad for this class, and will certainly return to them in future trips to Turkey. Considering how beautiful Tuzla is, I would perhaps also stay in Tuzla for a slightly more extended stay on the next visit. 

The Artistic Residency Experience at The Cloud Danslab

As our time in the Netherlands slowly draws to a close, I thought I'd take a few minutes to write a bit about the experience. We are currently staying in Amsterdam, where Mike has a concert with the Mike Anklewicz Trio at the Historic Portugese Synagogue, until we move on to our performances in the Czech Republic. 

Our first leg of the trip was spent in the Hague. Our purpose for being in the Hague was my artistic residency at The Cloud Danslab, over the course of which I was working on a choreographic piece titled "Vignettes of Sringaar". The kernel idea for this piece had come to me seven years ago, in a Choreography class led by Prof. Holly Small, during my Masters in Dance at York University, Toronto. I had wanted to do something with dance and light, and also engage with the concept of "Sringaar" and create a piece of multiple short vignettes centered around this theme. The idea stayed in my head, although I did not get the opportunity or time to develop the piece in Toronto. Earlier this year, Mike and I first started working together on a few smaller creative projects, both commercial and artistic in Toronto. We also knew we would be in the Netherlands from mid-late June, and so a choreographic development residency seemed perfect for the development of the "Vignettes of Sringaar" project.

We arrived on Thursday at noon at the Amsterdam Schifol Airport.  We quickly arranged for a local SIM card, and then went on to catch the train to the Hague, and then catch the tram from the station to our acommodations. The journey from Toronto to Amsterdam, and from the airport to our tram stop in the Hague was in itself an adventure, with several pieces of luggage, including dance costumes, props and musical instruments. Mike has been chronicling our adventures as well on his own blog, and has some pictures from our first day and arrival into the Hague on his blog (http://klezfactor.com/2015/06/18/welkom-in-nederland/). 

Our contact people at The Cloud were extremely helpful- we had preworked out an accomodation arrangement with them, and we got to stay in the beautiful apartment of Sindy, one of the Cloud members, for our residency weekend, who was herself away in Brussels during this time. We did however, have the opportunity to meet her, and she also showed us around The Cloud studio and premises. Her apartment was gorgeous and centrally located, and a short walk away from The Cloud.

The apartment was also next to a great coffeeshop, called Lollapalooza, with some amazing cappucinos. Mike and I had coffee at this shop when we first arrived in the Hague, and also every subsequent morning after. I will truly miss the coffee there! 

On the first day of the residency, Mike and I went to the studio in the morning. Sindy had shown us around the CLOUD space and the key system. The CLOUD is equipped with a beautiful spacious studio, with mirrors. In addition, it also has an adjoining office space, with desk space for writing and paperwork, as well as a wi-fi connection. They also have an impressive archival collection of the previous workshops and sessions hosted in their space. 

The first day, Mike and I practiced our techniques in the studio, and I additionally worked a bit on the physicalities drawn upon in the "Vignettes of Sringaar" piece. That afternoon, we visited the beautiful Korzo Theatre, and had coffee at another lovely coffeeplace. 

We returned to the CLOUD later that afternoon for my workshop at The CLOUD. I had the pleasure of teaching and working with some wonderful and open-minded dancers, and the workshop explored the conceptual and physical parameters and possibilities of The Nine Moods. 

Day 2 was a day of rehearsals and studio time, and working out our piece in the studio. Mike and I spent several hours working out concepts and shapes of the piece. We took a break in the afternoon and went for a walk and lunch downtown. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and we were glad for it! We returned to the studio that evening and worked further on the piece. 

Day 3 was the day when we introduced the first iteration of "Vignettes of Sringaar" to an audience, via a small informal performance in The CLOUD studio.

We would like to thank The CLOUD for their support of our "Vignettes of Sringaar" project, and their support to us as artists. We will be working further on the project once we return to Toronto, and with the involvement of more artists.