A jugalbandi of Indian dance and Belgian aerialists lit up the London skies to celebrate the Olympic Games in three boroughs of the city.
Bells, a collaboration of Akademi, which promotes South Asian dance and music in Britain, and Belgian company Theater Tol, was performed outdoors in Barnet, Lewisham and Hounslow as part of the outdoor festival, Showtime, a component of the Cultural Olympiad.
Bells, which was first performed at Trafalgar Square Festival in July 2007, was reworked for the Olympics cultural festival, says Mira Kaushik, director of Akademi.
“There have been no new commissions this summer, but all the cultural pieces presented for the Olympics have been recreations of older pieces. There was budget for new commissions only for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games,” says Mira, who has been heading the organisation since 1987, as she explained why her organisation had reworked an old production rather than creating something new. “We were invited by the mayor of London to engage with Outer London boroughs, which have not seen much Olympic participation, to ignite people’s imagination,” she adds.
“We are the only Indian company to have been invited to participate in the Cultural Olympiad and we are the biggest in terms of dance performances,” Mira says. The show has been reworked to include a dramatic wedding procession which was not part of the Trafalgar Square performance. “We had reworked the show for its European tour and it was suggested that we keep that format for the three shows this time,” Mira explains.
The spectacle was originally choreographed by Kumudini Lakhia and reworked by Amina Khayyam and Urja Thakore with an original musical score by Atul Desai and Niraj Chag.
Bells started with a wedding procession of Belgian aerialists and kathak dancers, weaving its way through the outdoor audience as performers interacted with the people on the grounds.