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He ought to know. Burgess, an exponent of modern dance, has served as a cultural envoy for the U.S. Department of State since 1994, travelling to South America, Europe and most recently, Egypt and the Middle East, teaching, performing and interacting with dancers in those countries.

Now, the dancer, who is the founder and the artistic director of the Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co. dance troupe in Washington D.C., is in Chennai on his first visit to India, working with the dancers of the John Britto Dance Company.

He’s already begun doing daily workshops with the dancers and is pleased with what he’s seen so far. “There’s a transformation happening in their movement and style and an exchange of ideas between us,” he says.

All of this leads up to a show on January 12 and 13 at the Image auditorium where Burgess and his troupe members (who will be joining him soon) will perform a specially choreographed production with Britto’s dancers, as well as some of their own pieces.

“The dance fraternity in Chennai is just starting to experiment with modern dance, so this will be something new for audiences to check out,” says Britto.

Burgess describes his technique of modern dance as being based on the connection of the spinal column between the cranium and the tail bone. “It’s an exploration of how that connection allows the body to move freely through space,” explains the dancer, who is also a professor at George Washington University. “There are several theories of modern dance; this is ours.”

These theories can make modern dance seem rather abstract but it’s really not as esoteric as it seems, he says: “It still comes down to movement and to the exploration of universal human emotions like love or loss.”

That’s why he was able to connect with dancers of a completely different tradition—Bharathnatyam—when he visited Kalakshetra and Dhananjayan’s Bharatakalanjali, conducting interactive sessions and teaching them some moves.

“It was wonderful — they were so open and well-trained,” he says. “A classically trained dancer’s body becomes an instrument for communication and they find it easier to learn another language of dance.”

Burgess, born to a Korean-American mother and Irish-American father, took up martial arts as a child, and discovered dance as a teenager. “Dance allowed me to integrate the movement of martial arts, which I love, with the creativity I was in search of,” says Burgess.

Not surprisingly, he’s taken with the Indian martial art form Kalari-payat, and is working with Kalari teacher Vasanth during his stay in Chennai. “I love the way he moves!” says Burgess. “Kalari is actually very similar to modern dance in the way motion is used in circles.”

Between teaching, soaking up of culture and getting used to Chennai weather and traffic (“It’s actually very graceful, the way the cars weave in and out!”) this cultural envoy certainly has his hands full until the end of his trip (January 14).

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