Let’s Talk Theatre Again #5: Taare Celebrates Their 8th Year in Bringing Bollywood to Cape Town!
Out of
all our creative partnerships that we’ve built over the years since our initial
blogging years, our partnership with Taare is our most proud one! After our
last interview with them 2 years ago on their Bollywood Enchanted (2018) production,
we just had to revisit them to talk about what they’ve been up to since. Read
more on our conversation below with Ahneesh Valodia, Taare’s Artistic Director
and Choreographer.
Cultsha Kennis: Congratulations
on Taare's 8th birthday! As Taare's Artistic Director, what were the biggest
highlights that has come from working with Taare over the past 8 years?
AV: If I
had to answer this in one word, I'd say: GROWTH. Seeing the growth across
different aspects of our dance group has been a phenomenal experience for me.
From seeing dancers grow as performers and as individuals and seeing life-long
friendships blossom as a result of dance; to seeing the manner in which we've
been able to produce productions with each being more detailed and
well-received than the previous; to working with other choreographers and their
dancers and growing my skills in the process; and lastly to engaging with various
events while trying to strengthen the way our style is presented. Growth has
been thee most humbling and rewarding highlight as artistic director!
Cultsha Kennis: How many resident
dancers officially form part of the Taare family now? Are they all
professionally trained dancers?
AV: Our
membership fluctuates depending on how well they're able to manage their
full-time occupations and part-time dance. Training backgrounds are quite
diverse and some do enter with a raw talent and potential that is then moulded
by Taare. We don't really consider prior training as a pre-requisite to joining
our troupe but rather their current and potential capabilities that we see at
their audition.
AV: Absolutely!
Suidoosterfees is such a beautiful platform and one that specifically
celebrates cultural diversity. We love working with the team and we love
meeting new, diverse patrons who come to learn about our brand through the
festival. Our first Suidoosterfees production, Live Love Bollywood (2017), formed part of our 5th year
anniversary and was actually the first time the festival hosted Bollywood as a
genre - this was special for us. Our second Suidoosterfees production, Beats
of Bollywood (2019), was
a major opportunity for us to connect with different dancers and choreographers
from across Cape Town. We created a production that resonated with the
festival's slogan of 'A Festival for All' by collaborating with a multitude of
genres from across the world through the medium of Bollywood song. It exposed
our regular patrons to dance genres they would not necessarily see live and
exposed our new patrons to Indian dance, perhaps live for the first time. We
celebrated our identity as a Rainbow Nation that Freedom Day and we were
honoured to do so at such a prestigious theatre. The diversity the production presented
was extremely well received and is definitely a concept we will revisit in the
future, perhaps even in a sequel to Beats of Bollywood. Watch this space.
Cultsha Kennis: Taare has made
appearances in Bhai's Cafe, a local film which opened this
year. How does preparing dance for a film feature differ from preparing a dance
piece for a theatre production?
AV: Bhai's
Cafe was an incredible learning experience for us. We completed the project
with a deeper appreciation and respect for the way films and television
programmes are created. The hours per day on set were long with each take
needing the same energy and enthusiasm as the last. As stage performers, we
only have that one moment where we give it our all and we are spoiled with
stage lights and live audience feedback. Preparations in the rehearsal phase
were very similar to that of stage - the film had an amazing director who then
took forth our work and presented it in a way he had envisioned. Bhai's Café left us with such fond
memories, new friends and so many learning experiences.
Cultsha Kennis: You've also done
a few dance covers, one which was filmed in the corridors of the Artscape
Theatre. What inspired you to create these covers?
AV: Social
media and technology has had a major impact on the way dance is globally
presented today. It has given dance practioners another outlet to share their
talent in addition to the traditional stage performance. This has created a
trend of sharing filmed and creatively edited work, and we thought we would
join and share some of the talents of our local dancers too. As a city and a country,
we have so much to offer so we took on the challenge and got started with small
offerings of our own. We look forward to producing many more in the future!
Cultsha Kennis: We also enjoy
Taare's participation in religious holidays, such as the annual Diwali festival
at the V&A Waterfront and temple performances at Vishnu Mandhir in Rylands,
Athlone. Tell us about the significance of the Ram Navami celebration in the
Hindu culture. From a dance perspective, does a temple performance look
different from a regular performance?
AV: Temple
performances are really something special. It is an opportunity to connect with
the Divine in an intimate space with ardent devotees seated all around you. The
lyrics and music are both usually very moving for both dancers and devotees and
we are always happy to contribute to the community through this medium. Ram
Navami is the birth of Lord Ram, a god who is synonymous with virtues of
strength, nobility and humility, and while we would've gathered at a Temple
service on the day, we thought we'd share our devotion (and our passion for
dance) through a video created while we're social distancing. We also created
another prayer video - one more steeped in our current global situation and one
that spreads the message of hope during these difficult times. It has gone
viral and we are so encouraged to create offerings that are more meaningful.
Prayer of hope video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayjYHgVbTVI&t=64s
Cultsha Kennis: Is Taare working
on anything new at the moment?
AV: With
the uncertainty of what the future holds and when exactly the performing arts
will be able to resume regular activity, we are trying our very best to merely
keep classes going for our dancers at the moment - an opportunity to keep
learning and moving. Zoom has been a useful resource for us and it's allowed us
to become more united than expected under these lockdown conditions. We are
also using online videos as a way to create performing opportunities for our
dancers as well as an outlet for our creative team and lastly, a way to
continue our mission to contribute to the enrichment of our community; even
it's just virtually right now. We celebrated International Dance Day this year
with a fun and innovative clip that allowed some of our dancers to use their
own creativity too. While these lockdown conditions are not ideal and are new
to us all, it has truly given us out-of-the-box approaches to keep going with
something as physical as dance.
Cultsha Kennis: How has the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown affected Taare's work? What lessons do you think the arts and theatre industries should consider for the future in light of this?
AV: It
has been a challenging time for us without regular private or corporate
performance work. We not only rely on funds from these to meet our monthly
financial commitments but we also use this as a platform of opportunity for our
dancers to regularly engage, learn and grow as performers. I think all
performing arts organisations would need to look at fundraising initiatives, if
they haven't already. Taare will certainly need to be and we would appeal to
the public to support these projects so that we, and many others, can continue
our work with as little collateral damage as possible.
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