It was at a residency held in 2022 in Kumbakonam, within the southern state of Tamil Nadu, that he met the dancers he would forged in “Gigenis.” 4 of the seven, together with Khoo, focus on Bharatanatyam, maybe probably the most generally practiced classical kind. The youngest, Sirikalyani Adkoli, 18, is an Odissi dancer, a pupil at Nrityagram, a coaching heart close to Bangalore, whose ensemble often visits New York. (Adkoli was solely 15 on the time of the residency.) Venu is a second-generation practitioner of Kutiyattam, an historical type of Sanskrit theater from Kerala. (In 2012, she carried out a solo night on the Asia Society in New York Metropolis.)
“I don’t actually determine as a dancer,” Venu stated in a current video name from Zurich, the place she was visiting household. “I’ve all the time considered myself as an actor.” However Kutiyattam performances embody motion, music (primarily drumming), singing and mime — in addition to extraordinarily vivid costumes and make-up. In “Gigenis,” she, just like the others, does with out these. “It creates an attention-grabbing form of vulnerability,” she stated.
Venu, an intensely bodily and dramatic artist, is the performer who opens the piece with that terrifying solo. “In my thoughts,” she stated, “it represents the monstrosity of struggle, and the way violence begets violence.”
Impressed by the residency at Kumbakonam, Khan initially deliberate to current a competition of Indian dance. However as he and the others started a rehearsal interval in Italy final yr, he realized he needed them to return collectively to inform a single story, every performer utilizing his or her type of Indian dance. The dancers introduced materials, which Khan — credited as director, not choreographer — edited and wove collectively into an impressionistic narrative a few girl (a queen, a mom, a spouse) wanting again on her life.
“It was actually instinctual,” Khan stated, “a strategy of trial and error, trial and error. As we went alongside, my concept of what I used to be on the lookout for regularly modified.” And although he had not deliberate to bounce in it — he has pulled again from performing the punishing evening-length solos he was as soon as recognized for — he discovered himself drawn into the motion.
At its heart is Venu. Because the protagonist, she conjures and observes the others, who enact scenes from her life. She mourns the loss of life of her husband and crowns one in every of her sons (Khoo). The opposite son, performed by Khan, is consumed by ambition. Their battle results in struggle, violence and extra loss of life.