When Sharmila Tagore Met Marilyn Monroe

An eye-grabbing poster of Marilyn Monroe, with a pre-Independence map of India drawn over her face, and another beautiful poster of Sharmila Tagore brought together Hollywood and Bollywood on stage at the India Habitat Centre earlier this week. Between them was placed a painting of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, over which three maps of Israel were drawn. This setting was part of a dance theatre performance called Holi, which aimed to depict how the body's everyday struggles are similar to that for land and territory.

Noted Israeli choreographer Idan Cohen, who collaborated with Kolkata-based Sapphire Creations for the act, said, "I have tried to depict how our body is constantly being bullied to look fair, beautiful, slim and acceptable in the society, in the same way national boundaries are being occupied and terrorised." This performance was part of the two-day theatre dance festival called International Festival of Alternative and Contemporary Expressions (INTERFACE 2012) in the Capital, which had an interesting line-up of dancers and choreographers from Australia, Israel and Taiwan, besides India.

Pointing out that there is a recent demand in Bollywood for fair-skinned female actors, Cohen said, "I chose Monroe and Tagore because they were childhood idols of the two female performers." My sweet little fur, another solo piece choreographed by Cohen, delved into the feelings of isolation through the story of a man who is crying for freedom. "The inspiration for this comes from my growing-up years at the kibbutz, an isolated community based on agriculture. There, I often felt like breaking free and going wild," he explained.

There was also an act called Game on, in which contemporary dancer Miranda Wheen tried dancing to the beats of the tabla being played by Australian artiste Bobby Singh. Both of them successfully brought about a fusion of contemporary dance and classical beats. The second day saw Seasons, a Bharatanatayam performance where Geeta Chandran and dancers from Natya Vriksha Dance Company danced to Russian composer Tchaikovsky's music, with an aim to depict the different seasons of summer, autumn and spring.

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