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Freeze frameA still on display

Not often do we have dance rhythms viewed through the camera and captured in frames. Especially if the photographer and the dancer originate from distant Hungary.

The Hungarian Cultural Centre in New Delhi is hosting an interesting exhibition of photographs, taken by Hungarian photographer Julia Ekhardt, of a dancer, Beata Barkoczi, performing Odissi.

The stills represent the meeting point of the oeuvre of two Hungarian artists, a photographer and a classical Indian dancer, and the two cultures. The main goal of the exhibition, as put by Ekhardt, is to showcase the various artistic ways in which Hungarian artists appropriate and popularise Indian culture.

Julia Ekhardt, on her maiden visit to the country, at the opening of the exhibition, emphasised, “Indian and Eastern dances in general, carry a unique spirituality, a special transformation of the dancer, which is exciting to photograph.” She has been taking photos of dancers performing Indonesian, Balinese and other Asian dance forms, before she started working with Hungarian dancers performing Indian dances. She met Barkoczi two years ago. Their meeting was the beginning of a long and fruitful association, and has now culminated in this common project.

“The most fascinating aspect is to see how Hungarian women who perform Indian dances undergo a unique transformation – they become dancers from ordinary women, and in this process, their entire feminine identity transforms; they connect to their real woman selves. It is wonderful,” she stated. Ekhardt has been consistently interested in the relationship between dance and women in all her previous dance-related projects. This gender aspect makes her frames robust with the movements of dance and its relation to the female persona. She added, “The European, and among them Hungarian women suppress their woman self to a large extent; dance has a liberating effect for them. It is like a therapy, a great tool of self-discovery and personality development. This is given only by Eastern dance forms.”

The exhibition reveals the different dance postures of Odissi, arranged in a sequential rhythm with the different religious motifs and icons forming the backdrop. The photographs also capture the bright and dark colours in the Odissi costume and reflect its unusualness for the European eyes. The predominant shades of red add a bright lustre to the frames, marking out the mudras and expressions of the dancer.

Asked about her plans, Ekhardt said she will publish a photo album dedicated to Indian dancers, for which she is collecting material in Vrindavan and Orissa during her current visit to India, and plans to include South Indian dances.

Those present at the opening of the exhibition were also treated to a digital video presentation of Ekhardt’s photos of Hungary in four parts — churches, portraits, crafts, and landscapes of Hungary. The exhibition concludes this Friday evening.

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