This is a New York Times review, published by Brian Seibert on September 9th 2012. The dance in question is Kapila Venu’s “The Abandonment of Sita”, presented at Asia Society.
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This is a New York Times review, published by Brian Seibert on September 9th 2012. The dance in question is Kapila Venu’s “The Abandonment of Sita”, presented at Asia Society.
Brian Seibert rather loosely follows the Feldman Model of Criticism for dance in his review of Kapila Venu’s “The Abandonment of Sita”. Seibert begins with background context, explaining the story that the performance was based on, the ancient Indian epic Ramayana. He then describes the stage setup of the performance: a lone woman, Kapila Venu, portraying every character in the story, accompanied by three drummers in the background. Seibert intertwines his description of the performance with analysis and personal interpretation. Despite the relatively scant number of elements on stage, Seibert notes that the drummers “described action”, providing the audience with another level of drama to match and contrast with Venu’s physical movements. He also observes that while Venu remained fairly still in “dance terms” during her performance, the sharp and vivid movements in her upper body as well as the emotion in her face conveyed far more than perhaps a traditional dance performance could.
Seibert ends his review of “The Abandonment of Sita” by noting the emotional impact of Venu’s performance, especially considering that it is a form of theater he has not encountered before. Though his evaluation may seem lacking, his final remarks say it all: “…she [Venu] gave a sense of herself behind the characters, feeling their sadness. Even if this was all artifice [due to the red dye in her eyes], she made that sadness felt.”