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This SPIN was welcome
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They leapt, spun, and cartwheeled. The Ukrainian dance troupe that participated in the Bangalore Habba left CHARUMATHI SUPRAJA breathless
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Spreading culture? The Kalynonka troupe spun and leapt into the hearts of Bangaloreans. —Photos: K. Bhagya Prakash
THE WAY they moved their booted feet, it seemed they had conquered space and time. The dancers from Ukraine seemed to laugh at these two aspects of physics with their deft and synchronised movements. Both the cute, doll-like girls and the wide-striding, air-walking boys carried the heeled boots on their feet like feathers.
Kalynonka was the only international dance troupe to perform at the Bangalore Habba. Flown in by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and AFFA, which organised the Habba, the troupe was visiting India for the first time. While the colour, grace, and exuberance they added to the festival was welcome, much was lacking in the arrangements made for them backstage.
Scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m., the performance began past 9:15 p.m.. Consequently, many Habba enthusiasts walked out of the hall during the lively performance. Hardly a warm welcome for first-time visitors.
But those who stayed got to rise up in the air, thanks to the bhangraesque buoyancy of the show.
The dancers, all aged between 16 and 19, jumped, tapped, bent, spun, and cartwheeled in breathtaking harmony with each other and the music.
With their amazing flexibility and sense of rhythm, they drew the culturally distant audience to clap and tap along.
Team manager Olena Ryzhey, however, insisted that India was not culturally distant from Ukraine.
The proof was in the language. "Words like maidan, bazaar, and many others are same in our language. Also, just like dancers here have to give their body and soul to art, so do we. Whether it's ballet or Bharathanatyam, there is a tremendous strain on the dancer's body, especially the hips, legs and feet," she said. Standing in the classic are-mandi position for so many hours and years, will take its toll, she said knowledgeably.
So how did she know the term for the traditional stance in Bharathanatyam? "I am a Bharathanatyam dancer and am teaching Indian dance in Ukraine. I propagate Indian culture in Ukraine through the dance," she said.
"Every year we have an Indian Dance Festival there and the students create Indian costume jewellery and clothes for the show by looking at videos. My teacher, Saroja Vaidyanathan, was amazed when she came to judge these students."
Having been an ICCR student for six years in Delhi, Olena was instrumental in bringing Kalynonka to India.
To be a professional dancer in Ukraine, one must be young, have a lithe body, look good, and be qualified with a degree or diploma in dance, Olena said. They start young, at the age of six and are off the stage by 20 or 25. Committed artistes passing on their skills to students in over 130 dance schools, restricted to the capital city of Kiev.
"Dance has a professional status in Ukraine. Cultural institutes do not take teachers without professional degrees and students have to learn from such institutions only," Olena stressed.
Oleg Kopievskiy, choreographer, explained: "This is a highly technical dance. The movements have to be precise, and we have to start young when we are ready to bend and learn.
Every institute teaches a number of dances — gypsy, Hungarian, Jewish, Spanish.. And in every show we perform at least 16 dances forms."
From the striking embroidery on the skirts and waistcoats to the swaying tassels of the headgear to the grace and acrobatics, Kalynonka indeed left an impression.
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