The encounter between Attakkalari and CROSS dates back to 2017 when CROSS Festival invited the choreographer Jayachandran Palazhy to Verbania at Teatro Il Maggiore with the show
Bhinna Vinyasa and hosted performances by dancer and choreographer Hemabharathy Palani in the cloister of the Museo del Paesaggio. This time the operation is reversed, Antonella Cirigliano and Federico Torre followed the rehearsal and realization of 4 pieces by the historic Indian company that uses Bharatanatyam, Kalaripayattu and Kathakali as an important basis of study for the creation of highly suggestive contemporary pieces with a unique dreamlike visual potential. Through mixing video, lighting, costumes and props, Attakkalari revisit their own culture by making it current. The result is a video installation, a video art project, with editing and direction by Stefania Carbonara. The video installation on view in Verbania during CROSS Festival 2024 also presents a rich visual documentation through interviews and the introduction of the
Nagarika project, which was directed by Jayachandran himself and constitutes a digital archive of the history of the movement in India and its religious and ritualistic implications.
Jeeva Pravaaha is a performance that reflects on the experiences of migrants during India's sudden closure due to COVID-19. Set among the architectural wonders of southern India, it explores how these structures influenced life rituals and transformed the concept of home from a refuge to a place of isolation and tension. Through a mixture of heritage, memories and contemporary cityscapes, the performance celebrates the individual freedom and inner spirituality of wandering devotees. With digital images created by artist Kunihiko Matsuo and almost obsessive music by M.D. Pallavi and Bindhu Malini,
Jeeva Pravaaha offers a profound reflection on the human condition, and particularly migrants, during crisis situations.
Soul of the Soil is a piece choreographed by the artistic director Jayachandran Palazhy and is part of the
AadhaaraChakra production. The performers dressed in typical village attires reminiscent of yesteryears moves to a Tamil folk song composed and sung by renowned folk musician Shri Kupuswamy. The work reflects the dichotomy of our lives in which tradition and modernity coexist. In today's urban world where technology dominates our lives, the song transports us to another time and place, perhaps to a more idyllic existence.
Nava Durga is a performance piece created during the COVID lockdown period, commissioned by the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP). The work is inspired by images of the powerful and fierce Goddess Durga created by 9 contemporary women painters and uses original music created by Idappally Ajit Kumar. This dance explores the conditions of Indian women today and the challenges they face, offering an allegorical interpretation of women's struggle against injustice, gender bias, and social discrimination, using Durga's victories against evil as inspiration.
Vanna Vativukal is a choreography commissioned as the final piece of the National Bridal Couture Fashion week in Delhi becoming the centerpiece of the event. The piece begins with an exploration of the masculine and feminine energies that exist within us and explores the playful nature of the courtship period. The choreography moves through images of courtship, union and sharing, celebrating sensuality by invoking images of rites of passage, rituals and elements such as water, to music specially composed by MIDIval Punditz.
