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PHOTO: S. THANTHONI

UNIQUE APPROACH Preeti Vasudevan

“The kimono wraps your knees together — I was used to spreading them in the aramandi position,” she says. “I had to use a fan instead of my fingers, my eyes were too big, and I had to wear closed shoes (clogs). I couldn’t do anything I was used to.”

That moment of frustration changed the course of the dancer’s career: Preeti realised there was more to movement than any one dance form can teach you, and she became drawn to movement analysis and the different ways a person can use her body.

Ten years of experimenting later, and with an M.A. in Dance Studies from Laban Centre, London, Preeti began her own dance-theatre company, Thresh. It was the start of a new phase in the exploration of her multidisciplinary approach to movement, dance and theatre.

First came short pieces such as ‘Strings Unattached’ which Preeti performed during her first all-India Thresh tour in 2004 (including Chennai), and then came time for her first full-length dance-theatre production, ‘The Absent Lover’, which sees its world premiere right here in Chennai in February. “I’d been choreographing other people’s plays for years, and it was time to do my own,” she says.

Given her love for movement for its own sake, it’s not really surprising she rejects the title of ‘fusion’ for her work, even though it contains elements of classical as well as modern and contemporary dance forms. “For every dance production, I start from scratch — the movement is based on the concept, not slapping together Odissi with Kathakali and calling it fusion,” she explains.

And it isn’t just the dance movement that’s built from scratch; at Thresh, the dance troupe is built around the concept too. “There aren’t any permanent members except me,” reveals Preeti. “We invite those who are suited to the project to be part of this performing arts collaboration.” Her current dance-theatre production, for example, features multidisciplinary, international cast from the U.K., France, New York and Bengal.

But the dancer, who splits her time between New York and Chennai, believes that one never moves too far from one’s roots. That’s why ‘The Absent Lover’ is inspired by a Sanskrit play, and that’s why teaching Bharatanatyam remains a priority for Preeti.

“The more I’ve learnt of other disciplines, the more I’ve learnt to appreciate my own,” says the dancer, who is a disciple of the Dhananjayans. In fact, she and her husband Bruno Kavanagh, who works in computer-based education, will be launching an interactive e-learning website for teaching Bharatanatyam ( www.dancingforthegods.org) soon and have set up the Thresh Charitable Trust for education in the performing arts right here in Chennai.

The young Bharatanatyam dancer who once struggled to dance in a kimono has come full circle today, and she’s ready to give Chennai a taste of her unique approach to dance — part classical, part contemporary, and entirely about movement.

The Absent Lover’, to be presented on February 5, 7 p.m. at the Chinmaya Heritage Centre, tells the story of loss and rediscovery, and of the power of Nature to transform us. The full-length dance-theatre production is based on the 5th Century Sanskrit play ‘Vikramorvishyam’ by Kalidasa. It tells the story of King Pururavas’s pursuit of his lover, the nymph Urvashi through a magical forest. The intensity of his grief drives Pururavas into a mystical state and his passage through the glade becomes one of self-discovery. In the end, he discovers humility and his own humanity, and is re-united with his love as a reward.

The original script for the play was written by Bruno Kavanagh, with costumes and sets designed by Paris-based Delphine Ciavaldini, lighting designed by Les Dickert from New York, and music composed by U.K.-based Ben Foskett. Preeti Vasudevan is the artistic director and plays the role of Urvashi, alongside French-born dancers Celine Pradeu (tree spirit) and Gilles Chuyen (the king and the narrator). It will also feature the music of Bengali Baul singer, Raju Das.

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