Game On.

DANCE.

A 2011 oldie.  Game On @ SOH. 

Are music and dance truly universal languages? Game On is a collaborative force that consciously breaks the barriers between cultures, different times and art forms. Indian tabla player Bobby Singh joins contemporary dancer Miranda Wheen to explore what happens when two very diverse traditions collide. In this case the collision resulted in each form complimenting, challenging, and interacting with the other in an intimate conversation the audience was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of.

The skill and talent these two artists display in their respective roles is undeniable, but what this performance best demonstrates is a spectacular ability for them to listen, understand and respond to each other. The performance begins as the artists are acquainted – music and dance as separate entities – before developing into an interactive collaboration. At times the music inspires the dance, and at others the dance motivates the music. They play. Cheeky at times, encouraging each other on, watching and waiting. Overall they are organically in tune with each other, and while each artist succeeds in displaying the full arc of their individual talent, the performance becomes truly astounding once they find a common ground.

Interestingly, by the end of the performance we find musician Singh has himself become a kind of dancer, albeit seated, with fingers, hands, arms and mouth moving at captivating speeds. Wheen on the other hand is the dancer transformed into traveling musician, tapping and beating her hands and feet, her body creating rhythms that are visual and audible. Music and dance mold into one, and the juxtaposition of traditional Indian tabla to contemporary dance becomes forgotten. 

Wheen displays a freedom of movement that is contagious, sweeping the audience up in her ability to use the space. Her arms create a momentum that allows her torso to collapse and catch, lifting her legs and wrapping them about her upper body. This same momentum is captured and re-captured, a breath, a turn, a slide. Her body motions through the beats and rhythms, arching, hunching, stretching and spiraling, while her fingers click, curl and pull.

Attention is sent back and forth between them, allowing us to observe a translation between bodies. Between practices, cultures and traditions. This is enabled by the close connection the pair have clearly established. Singh’s eyes are finely in tune with Wheen’s traveling body, and Wheen investigates the rhythms and patterns of Singh’s drumming. At times she crouches to listen intently, clapping out his rhythmic song: Da din din da, da din din da. We all feel the rhythm and learn the rhythm, which Wheen then translates and arouses through her body as the beats accelerate. Her body muses the accents in pace, transposed by hand gestures and highlights in movement. Slow yet dynamic. Swaying and circling, her vigorous interpretation of Singh’s music creates vibrations through the audience.

In one delightful section, the duo surprise each other (and the audience) in a cheeky improvisation. He follows her steps and gestures: a step, a walk, a kick, a balance, a collapse, a rise, a finger roll. Each muscle and joint manipulation finds its response in the music. She states it with movement, he states it with drums: tangible and reflexive, as they instigate, stir and encourage each other.

Creating music together, Wheen transforms it into dance, moving in sometimes curved and other times straight pathways across the stage. Forward, back, diagonal; it is their conversation but she dances for the audience. Letting them in on their new secret vocabulary. In conclusion they play into the darkness, leaving us with the memory of a unique collaborative experience.

In this performance music and dance did in fact create a universal conversation, by bringing together two traditions that rubbed up against each other in ways never imagined.

Directed by Annalouise Paul