Dancers to add rhythm to festival

THERE will be dance performances of various genres, workshops and lectures during the inaugural Kuala Lumpur International Dance Festival 2015 from Sept 3 to Oct 4 this year. The festival is the dance component of DiverseCity: The Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival (KLIAF) 2015, which was launched in May. It will present new works from Aswara, Dua Space Dance Theatre, Temple of Fine Arts, Alamak Entertainment, Sutra Foundation, MyDance Alliance and UPSI. One of the highlights for the festival is the 12 world premieres of national and international performances. Festival curator Datuk Ramli Ibrahim said the number of people watching dance performances has been decreasing and hoped that the festival could provide entertainment and stimulation. “The festival hopes to harness the creative potential of our diverse cultures. The dance component is also about multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Ramli, who is also the chairman of Sutra Foundation, provides the artistic direction for “Ganjam-Odissi”. Sutra dancers will be accompanied by musicians from Odisha for this performance. GuoGuang Opera from Taiwan and Aseema Trust (Chennai) aim to show how Chinese Opera and Indian folk dances can be relevant and simultaneously be part of current contemporary traditions. Among the artistes performing include I Hema Nandhini, who will give a solo bharatanatyam performance, while Kimball Gallagher (international pianists), Chaing YiLing (soprano), Sangeeta Isvaran and Suresh Kaliyath will give the accent and flavour to link the diverse genres of dance-theatre. The diversity aims to appeal to audiences with different interests. For example, “Pak Pandir Yo!” by street dance talent Alam Wakaka, a modern hip hop dance version of classical traditional characters steeped in our folklore, may be for those who are interested in hip hop or modern interpretations.

For details and tickets, call 03- 4021 1092, 03-7610 0682 or visitwww.klidance.com, www.sutrafoundation.org.my, www.diversecity.my or emailsutrafoundation25@gmail.com