And She Said is a remarkable work of politics and spirit, which had me completely spellbound. Lakshmi Sriraman's versatility, precision, and creativity shine through her absolutely superb performance. Her connection with the audience was magical. Don't miss this!
Staccato beats emanated from everywhere:from darting glances, belled heels, sharply bent knees, and arms flung to the horizon, then crossed at the chest, where the fingers flared like a bouquet.
Lakshmi's sacred dance beckons the spirit within me to awaken and to activate. Beauty, artistry, creativity, expressiveness, power - all are expertly blended in a scintillating and timeless performance - sweeping me away to a world beyond.
Where theatre actors often work to create a "fourth wall" - i.e., an imagined boundary between performer and audience - Sriraman finds herself working in each performance to break that boundary down.
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Adapting poetry to a dance-theatre performance is always a challenge. While some poems have a basic rhythm that can be set to a dance beat, others are free verse that do not cooperate with the more rigid forms of dance.
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Lakshmi approaches it as an artist and a storyteller.
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Lakshmi manages to get rid of abstraction when approaching the everyday story of human experience. That's when her dance flies and connects intensely with the audience, watching attentively the gestures of a mother embracing her child, generating empathy.
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... lively in Bharatanatyam, showing plenty of detail of gesture, footwork and positions.
Seeing Lakshmi's dance I learnt that it is actually possible to make Aandaal's poetry even more beautiful than it is. I will never read Aandaal's poetry the same way again. Thanks to her wonderful interpretation, I feel like I have been in her presence. Thank you for channelling her feelings with such conviction. Can't thank you enough.