Belinda Roy and Pallavi Anand
Jhoola
“Between the poles of the conscious and the unconscious, there has the mind made a swing; Thereon hang all beings and all worlds, and that swing never ceases its sway”
Above is an extract from a doha (couplet) by Kabir Das which we took as our starting point for this piece. The swing being a metaphor for life suggests that with ups comes downs, nothing is permanent, a little movement is all it takes to start and to keep going.
Nature being the start and end of everything, displays resilience consistently… whether it be a small plant growing in a dry barren land, or water adapting and taking on any shape it inhabits or even human beings, a part of nature and therefore resilient themselves. Resilience is all around us and we must keep on swinging..”
Belinda Roy is a London-based freelance contemporary dancer. Having trained at the Royal Academy of Dance and Trinity Laban, Belinda now balances her performing work in contemporary dance works, opera’s and film/tv alongside teaching dance in various locations such as Rambert and Dance Attic. She is really excited to be part of Dance Festival Croydon and to finally perform this special duet to a live audience!
Pallavi Anand began training in Bharatanatyam with her mother Smt. Shalini Shivashankar (Director of Upahaar School of Dance, London) at the age of 5 and continued to complete her arangetram in 2008 in Bangalore, India. She received further guidance in Chennai at Bharata Kalanjali School of Natya, founded by Natyachaaryas, the Dhananjayans as well as with Smt. Bragha Bessell.
In addition, Pallavi explored Mohiniattam briefly and has begun her training in Mridangam and Nattuvangam, aiding her sense of rhythm and musicality within dance. She has presented a variety of solo, duet and group recitals in the UK, India and abroad and was recently touring globally as one of the principal dancers in Akram Khan Company’s ‘Outwitting the Devil’. Pallavi continues to train and find her voice under the mentorship and guidance of Sri. Mavin Khoo.
Credits
Performance & Choreography: Pallavi Anand & Belinda Roy
Music Composition: Prathap Ramachandra & Kartik Raghunathan
Violin: Kartik Raghunathan
Mridangam, Ghatam, Kanjira, Konnakol: Prathap Ramachandra
Sound Design and Editing: Duncan Chapman
Videography: Sujith Kumar