Most fusion works to me look like con-fusion - Adriana Di Cillo

Adriana Di Cillo (Drix) is a Spanish/Brazilian director, choreographer, dramatist, coach, dancer and actor with vast international experience. Her artistic education started at the age of four and has included along a lifetime of dedication, western classical ballet, modern and contemporary dance, acting, Spanish flamenco, Latin-american dances, such as Brazilian samba, lambada, salsa, and Argentinean tango, martial arts, Indian classical dances (Bharatanatyam and Kathak) and Film directing. For the last 18 years Adriana has ventured through the routes which trace back the eastern origins of flamenco art, having worked and researched extensively in 4 of the 5 continents: Americas, Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Adriana has performed in very auspicious stages such as The House of Blues, Luna Park and Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the Music Academy of Madras and the Sangeet Natak Academy of Lucknow in India. She has coached, choreographed and performed for several dance companies as well as various social projects worldwide. Adriana Di Cillo is the President and General Director of the Mundaka Arte & Cultura Org, a cross-culture NGO that promotes the interaction and exchange between different artistic manifestations.

Please tell us about your association with dancing. How did you develop an interest towards it?

I believe as Ana Pavlova says: "I danced from the moment I could stand", but started learning dance formally at the age of four. I asked my mother to take me to a ballet school and thanks God she heard me.  Actually I am forever thankful to her, who as a doctor had a clear understanding on the essential place of arts and sports in the building of a child's personality. Along the years, as I became more and more involved and dance became my path in life, the very meaning of my existence, she also continued to support me.

How did your tryst with India happen? Based on your experience, do you think that it is more difficult for a Non-Indian to learn Indian classical dance?

India to me has been from my teenage hood a homelike culture where i found such deep identification, from the arts, the food, the arquetypes, the dress codes, the myths, to the languages.. it all seem so familiar to me...  I normally say that I have European decadency and Indian ascendency.

Now dance is a language spoken throughout the world by its uncountable dialects. Learning any foreign dance demands a deep understanding on its regional cultural lexicon.  So in that way, it is not easy for a foreigner to learn Indian classical forms because we first must become familiar with the way of life of this or that community, be exposed to their daily chronicles, learn about their history and their mythological arquetypes. So, only after that one can cognize such complex and layered syllabus, and that is actually when steps will have meaning. 

In another hand I have experienced quite a few times that in this globalized world, sometimes a fresh eye can reveal aspects of a particular tradition that have long been hidden by the so many turns mankind takes on writing its own history. Like Ragini Devi for example, an American dancer who came to India in the late twenties, to some extent rediscover the greatness of Kathakali.  Even myself have come across situations here in modern India, where I struggled  to remind some art partners, both dancers and musicians, that if we are going to count on the clock the amount of money we make for our creative proccess, better to start looking for a an office 7to5 kind of job.

Nevertheless, by the grace of God I have had wonderful Gurus here who have given me genuine reference and the proper guidance towards my own research on Indian classical dance and its original sacred forms.

We're seeing considerable fusion being applied to traditional dance forms now — what are your views on this trend?

Most fusion works to me look like con-fusion

Not because I don’t believe that different styles or art forms couldn’t or shouldn’t communicate. But because things take time. If I want to interact with an Indian person in Hindi, I must learn some Hindi. Same thing the other way around. That takes time. The thing is that most con-fusionists are moved by immediatistic commercial trends, influenced by the never satisfying consumerism, from where mostly noisy non-sense art products are being produced all over the globe.

Fusion is unavoidable in today's world; it actually represents a big chunk of the world's voice in our present time. But again, communication is about talking and listening, it’s about learning, where taking is also a form of giving.

Many of the maestros have a spiritual approach towards their music/dancing. Do you believe music/dancing connects with a higher being?

I have come to realize by the practice of the anga bhedas and abhinaya in general,  its profound power of self -sculpting oneself from both inside out and outside in,  and  of how the consciousness of gesture makes living a dance of its own.  In that way, as far as I am concerned Indian Classical Dances are a very complete form of yoga practice, as a path to Divine archetypical embodiment, raising the aesthetic experience to the level of spiritual contemplation.

Nonetheless I believe that the arts in general can bring one to such place of self-rapture, where the thin line between Creator and Creation vanishes, so that the artist disappears for the Art to be revealed.

What is your advice to budding artists and dance enthusiasts?

Well, quoting from Neitzsche: ”We should consider everyday lost in which we don't dance. " 

The life of an artist is a life of devotion, a life of offering and sacrifice, where through our sadhanas we bring ourselves in the face of mystery to realize the unimaginable power of the body to transcend its own physical limitations.  So let’s make it sacred, let’s keep it sacred, let’s make our dance studios as holy grounds, knowing that in that place for dance, we bring ourselves to a place of prayer, that more than anything else, it’s about offering...

0

My show is based on audience participation, I constantly push the crowd to react and interact with me - Murray Molloy

Murray Molloy Sword Swallower Extraordinaire from Ireland has been performing and traveling all over the world from Australia to Laos and Portugal to Fiji, for more than fifteen years. He has performed on the street, in bars, clubs and festivals, in front of tribal chiefs and in the legendary Jim Rose Circus in America and the Edinburgh fringe festival. He has studied yoga in the spiritual capital of India, Benares and clown with the famous Jango Edwards in Barcelona. He currently lives in Spain where he is exploring new fusions with cutting edge creators from diverse fields.

What challenges did you encounter when you first started performing?

One of the biggest challenges was to make people comfortable watching me do what I do. Its a pretty scary stunt and I wanted to make it fun, that's been a huge challenge! Also because I started performing on the street it was a big challenge learning to attract and hold the attention of a crowd!

How do you connect with audiences and keep them engaged? 

My show is based on audience participation; I constantly push the crowd to react and interact with me, whether through jokes, moving among the audience or inviting people onstage.

Your experience of performing in Kolkata? 

 

I had a great time in Kolkata; the audience was a lot of fun, very energetic!

Origin of sword swallowing is traced back in India. Please share your views?

Sword swallowing originated in India of 3,500 years ago by Fakirs and Shaman priests who developed it along with fire-walking on hot coals, snake handling and other ascetic religious practices as a demonstration of their power, invulnerability and connection with the divine. Sword swallowing is still practiced in some parts of India and there is rumored to be a tribe in Andhra Pradesh who pass the art from father to son. From India sword swallowing spread to China, Greece, Rome and Europe, sword swallowers are mentioned in 410 AD during the Teutonic fight for Rome. From Europe it traveled to America.

0

A jhal-muriwallah in King Arthur’s Court!

The year: 2004. Angus Denoon, British and a chef, came to Kolkata as a tourist. He wanted to do a  short documentary on the city’s famed street food  and the faceless men  and women who run the business. The jhal muriwallah topped the  list of the  people he was keen to meet. To him, he looked more That non-descript man (or woman) was  like a human machine standing (and sometimes sitting) for hours moving his arms in a seemingly mechanical routine. It cast a spell on him. He studied their ways, learnt how to make jhal muri, and started his own business – in the streets of London! Today you might see his quirky, colourful cart flamboyantly signed as  ‘The Everybody Love Jhal Muri Express’ at street corners, weddings, festivals and fairs, and –hold  your breath, even at No 10.

   For nearly two centuries, all kinds of things have been traded between the two countries. But of all things, jhal muri! That beats them all. The  humble puffed rice has now gone places. It may not have offered a hefty foreign exchange bounty. But it has paid back in something far more precious than that – the love and  admiration of dozens of people  of a far country. 

Angus says,"I love being a street food hawker! It’s like having your own kitchen in your van and get a chance to interact with the customers. I do sell phuckas or ghugni chaat sometimes. I get muri from Kolkata and other ingredients from Indian grocery shops found here and ther in London, but I prepare my own chutneys."

He gets tremendous response for Jhal muri. A thonga is priced at £2. What is the peak time? Angus says  In between lunch and dinner. Normally I sell about 60-70 paper containers, but it depends on the weather. During the festival time when the weather is good the number increases. My customers are everyone–Asians,  Britishers, assorted others. The Asian community in the UK is very big. In the whole of London there are two Bangladeshi, to my knowledge  selling jhal muri. You will find me in most Indian/Bangladeshi weddings.

Does he have any expansion plans? Angus says,"I have plans to make dry version of jhal muri and it can be sold in packets. In England we have big problem with snacks. Big multi million dollar companies sell take-away snacks. They don’t satisfy one fully because people will buy more. They also put in a lot of chemicals and additives which are very harmful. They are eating chips and other foods. I organize  workshops in schools and I have seen school kids love eating muri. Giving muri is great. They love it, and it’s better for them! I have served many well-to-do and famous people. I have served drug addicts. When they eat it they become normal.

He adds,"Last time when I came to Kolkata, I tried dohi phucka in  the Lake Gardens area. I liked it very much." Maybe one day it also might be there in his  menu.

0

Bengali by ancestry, Costa Rican by nationality, and in search for her roots

He was named Abdul Rezak in  Hooghly where he was born. He came to Costa Rica in the late 1940s with a British passport. He  was studying medicine at Oxford . Since India was fighting for its independence at that time his parents thought it was good for him to leave the UK in case something happened to him and his family. He decided to look for another country and not to return to India .

So they thought of starting a new life. They were looking for a place where there was an Indian community. Initially they thought of Jamaica . He went to Jamaica with his wife and four other Indians. On the way his wife died. They didn’t feel comfortable in Jamaica .  So they went to Panama . Panama has a big Indian community over there. But they did not like Panama either and crossed the border and went to Costa Rica . They settled there.

Cut to 2014. Marissia Obando Razak, the grand daughter of Abdul Rezak, has been in Kolkata in search of her roots. Marissia elaborates,“ My grandfather  came to Costa Rica with only one bag, a pair of pants and some shoes. He had no money and didn’t  get any financial help. He choose to begin all over again from zero. He made a store and it was the only store which was selling everything- rice, bean, sugar, fabric, and shoe.  He died in Costa Rica and was buried there.” 

What was their family’s initial experience in Costa Rica ? 

Marissia feels, “It was like a new world for them. They were Muslim and practised a religion whish was different there. They were from India so they ate a different kind of food. They would speak another language at home. After my grandfather died my mom became a Christian and married my dad who was a Costa Rican. She didn’t speak Bengali after that. It was a very emotional decision she made. .My mom had to face a crossroad. She was a Muslim and  there was no mosque there those days. She didn’t have anyone with her to read the Quran or pray five times. For her the easiest thing was to look for another faith that would make it easier for her to fit in that country This is because she was all the time with my grandfather. So when he passed away she was left alone in a dark place not knowing what to do next.”

There are around 40 Indian families and about 200 Indian people staying in Costa Rica . They celebrate almost all the festivals there.

How was her experience?  “From childhood we knew we were different. Once my mom asked me why my friends from school didn’t come and study with me in our home. When I told my friends one of my good friends she said to me, ‘I didn’t like your house. It smells funny’."

She continued, “We used to burn incense in our house and she was referring it to that smell. In our house We had pictures of my grandparents and we used to burn incense. My mom used to talk about Indian culture and Indian history. We started to develop deep feelings for India . She was a high school principal and on Sundays she used to cook parathas, kheer, rice with cashews and peanuts and very spicy food  flavoured with chilly. In our house we ate with our hands. It was different for everybody else but for us it was natural.”

What motivated Marissia to choose such a  journey?  She explains,” Last year I was here in India for four months to attend a course at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.  I think that was the beginning of this journey. I decided to visit Kolkata and see myself how my grand father’s homeland was. One year later here am I. I don’t have enough information. I don’t think I have any relatives here. But it is great to be here and sharing my story. It is the beginning of a journey which will push me to look for may be answers or experiences that will bring me closer to my roots. I actually feel like being at home here. I consider myself more Indian than Costa Rican.”

Talking about her country she says, “The UN has quoted the Costa Ricans as the happiest people in the world. Costa Rica is one of the leading countries in Central Latin America . Unemployment is less than 2% over there. The growth is over 4% yearly. Our main activity in Costa Rica is tourism. Earlier it used to be agriculture. We were known all over the world for our bananas and coffee and sugar. Now the country’s  main activity involves major sectors. This is because tourism involves a lot of sectors. The official language is Spanish but all of us can speak English. Our economy is growing. Education is free all the way up to University.

0

The little-known world of Kolkata's China Town

How often we have taken Chinese food. How often we have visited Chinese beauty parlours. How often we have visited Chinese dentists. How often we have bought shoes from Chinese footwear shops. 

We always use their services. But how many of us,  or how often,  care to know how they live,their settlements, what are the features what matters to them most as a community, how have they as a migrant ethnic community assimilated into Kolkata’s culture and society?

It is these basic questions and there unanswered silence that have led a young Calcuttan, Kamalika Bose, to explore these uncharted areas. And she is the one cut out for the work. An assistant professor in the faculty of design at India’s premier architecture institute, CEPT University, she has chosen to do research on the Chinese community in Old China Town of Kolkata. A batch of 27 students has come along with her out of whom 12 are from Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. Thomas Hilberth, associate professor, Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, is the co-instructor in the programme. 

As Kamalika explains, “I think when we look at Kolkata and talk about Kolkata and Kolkata’s heritage, we largely focus on the British colonial heritage, its architectural features found mostly in the Dalhousie Chowringhee region, and the culture that went with it. It is only recently that the area of research has widened. There has been a spark of interest in alternative histories, alternative heritage that have developed as part of the mainstream identity that the city has. Out of all these communities that had once migrated here, the Jews and Armenians and the Greeks have left. We have their synagogues, old churches, burial places and such other left-overs.

But what about the people who were once the owners or creators of these heritage buildings, these architectural beauties? So we don’t look at their heritage just as isolated monuments.” Basu said. For the last ten years she has been researching on North Kolkata, on the Rajbaris and the paras and how they developed. Her interest was always along Chitpur Road, the sort of culture that developed on either side of Chitpur Road. The Old China town forms the southernmost starting point of Chitpur Road, where Bentick Street ends and Chitpur Road starts.

Thomas feels “It is very important in our globalized world to have an understanding of different cultures around the globe. For us it is a fantastic opportunity to have this collaboration with CEPT and we could join the course which Kamlika Bose had prepared so well, so it is not only that we profit from the difference between one culture and another, we can compare three cultures.”

Talking about the Chinese community, Kamalika says, “What was interesting for me was to see how they have fitted themselves into Kolkata which was a very alien place for them. We know that the Chinese are a very close knit community which is steeped in tradition and culture. They have held on to most of the traditions. For instance I didn’t have any idea that they had so many Chinese burial grounds. Then there are different temples, each temple is from a different province from where people have migrated. We look at the community as one community-Chinese community in Kolkata. But within that there are so many subcultures. Its almost like India. There is no one India, There is no one Chinese food. Similarly there is no one Chinese culture. It has been a revelation for me, in the part of the study to understand these multiple Chinese identities that make the collective idea of the Indian Chinese community.”

Thomas adds, “What I thought was very interesting to discover was that there were so many kinds of diverse professions that are traditionally Chinese like dentists or carpentry or boat building, or jobs in the leather industry. Kind of niche jobs or professions which required a lot of skills. They always look at themselves as Indian Chinese and not migrant Chinese.”

When asked whether the next generation youths are migrating for a better future. Kamalika feels, “There is one segment of the youth who still have values, they respect their history. Though they are looking for economic opportunities, they don’t want to obliterate this heritage they have in search of newer opportunity. they want to strike a balance, which is why I think any conservation here is important because that becomes an incentive for the newer generation to find pride in what they have. If everything is demolished or disintegrates then the community loses that pride that they have. It is very important that the revitalization of Old China town is going to be shorten the arms for the entire community especially the youngsters who otherwise look at other opportunities elsewhere. So conservation can really act as a trigger and can give a great boost and incentive to the local communities to find pride and reconnect with their identities.”

What does Thomas feel about the architecture of the Chinese temples? Thomas explains, “The multifunctional aspects of the places are amazing. People playing mahjong in front of the temple shrine that would be impossible in the Indian context! It was really a surprise for me. It is very pragmatic. There is no categorized boundary. Architecture-wise the spaces are quite simple. The decoration is more elaborate. This also relates to their profession, carpentry. When the Chinese came to India they were under British rule, so the external facade and features of many temples are very classical and reflect those traditional classical features whereas inside you see the Chinese identity strongly.”

                                                                  Kamalika and Thomas

What is the importance of conservation works in today’s world? Kamalika elaborates, “In an era when we are rapidly homogeneousing as cities, as people, there is no difference between the way Shanghai looks and Dubai looks, and what we aspire for our cities to look. With the kind of IT townships we are creating, we are flattening the globe. It is not remaining a diverse place as we like it to be. But we also recognize places with their historic identity. It is the heritage of the country that defines the history and identity. Therefore conservation plays a very important role in restoring and holding on to the identity.”

While Thomas signs off by saying, “if you don’t understand where you come from you will never understand where you are going to. To recognize the diversity and colorfulness of the culture. Globalization has the danger to flatten the culture. It is important to preserve the small oasis we have in this lovely city.” Normally it’s a notion of being in a China Town universally, there is an image about a Chinese identity of speaking loud, neon signs/ billboards, large buildings with Chinese character. Kolkata’s Old China Town is very distinct in such a way that it does not visually loudly declare it as a China Town but only once you start walking within it is that you discover it as a hidden part of the city it has woven itself nicely.”

0