Sword & Spear I Astad Deboo I 2004

Описание: Remembering Astad🌸
Film #2 - Sword & Spear

I saw Astad dance for the first time in the mid-eighties at the Prithvi Theatre. His physicality and his music both seemed to come from another world to someone like me who had no exposure to what was then known as “modern” dance. But there was immense theatricality in his work, a challenging of boundaries, of time and space, and I held on to that for dear life. That night, walking home, I felt a deep sense of liberation. Good contemporary dance has that effect on you.

We became colleagues and close friends. We brainstormed new ideas, I designed lights for him, travelled on tours, and eventually began documenting his work whenever we had the resources.

Those early years were when he struggled to find his “voice” as a dancer. His years of travelling and learning from different cultures and styles had given him rich resources, but it was training in Kathakali that gave him a unique, and complete, vocabulary. The theatricality now was deliberate and measured. He could weave magic on stage, and slow time down at will.

Astad never had students in the traditional sense, and yet there are hundreds of people who have learnt from him. He felt most deeply about his deaf and hard- of-hearing students from different institutions, and the young dancers from the Salaam Baalak Trust. He was a tough teacher, pushing the dancers to go beyond any physical, or psychological limitation they may have. He enjoyed collaborations and has created several impressive works with puppeteers, musicians, and his Manipuri Thang Ta fighters, and the Puncholum drummers.

The two films we are sharing are the outcomes of our documentation project as we tried to capture Astad’s process and his way of working. His work has been filmed with amazing sensitivity and skill by some of our most wonderful documentary film people. Astad was always grateful for this. This sharing is to celebrate Astad’s work, and the wonderful spirit of camaraderie and support shared by artists.

Sunil Shanbag
December 2020

Sword and Spear
A Film by : Sunil Shanbag, Sudheer Palsane, Sanjiv Shah, Suresh Rajamani

Astad Deboo is India's leading contemporary dancers who has won critical acclaim internationally. His work has seen him travel the length and breadth of the globe, making him truly a citizen of the world. His recent collaborations with martial arts performers from Manipur has added another layer to his eclectic style. The film picks up Astad on a tour of Taiwan with his martial arts performers, and explores the nature of collaboration.

The Astad Deboo Dance Company
Astad Deboo
Ranjeet Chingtham Khuman
Brojen Sanasam Meeti
Shuraj Kumar Sharma
Dinesh Khamanam Singh

Choreography : Astad Deboo
Music : Susmit Limaye
Music Mix : J. D. Singh
Light Design : Sunil Shanbag

Camera : Sudheer Palsane
Editing : Sanjiv Shah
Sound : Suresh Rajamani
Poems : Ramu Ramanathan
Post - Production Support : Nirupama Kaul
Producer : Chrysalis Films

Filmed on a Tour at The Asia Pacific Forum at Taipei National School of Arts
Runtime : 36 Minutes 54 Seconds
Recording Format : DV
Year : 2004

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