GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
Flushing Town Hall presents the third phase of ‘HOME,’ an international collaboration between Valerie Green/Dance Entropy and choreographers from diverse countries. Welcoming its new 2020 season, featuring a global choreographer collaboration between Valerie Green of Dance Entropy and Ashley Lobo, the spearhead of international dance in India, live in performance on Sunday, February 16.
He will present his version of India along with choreographers from Sweden, Columbia, Lebanon, and Uganda in a 15-minute dance piece with international dancers. In an atmosphere where there is more division than ever, the project ‘HOME’ will engage with diverse communities to build a sense of connection and shared understanding across boundaries and cultures.
When asked about what is his definition of home, he says, “Home for me is India. India is a bundle of confusion but there is a strange order within that confusion that makes it continue to flourish. Nature has no great order, trees grow the way they want, rivers flow as per no order but there is synchrony within that organic development of life. Even the growth of a person.”
Ashley Lobo has been spearheading international ballet and contemporary dance in India, and his version of ‘HOME’ stems from the fact that ‘if you are one with you, then you are at home wherever you are’. He believes chaos leads to realizations and will base his training and performance on this thought. He will also be taking a masterclass to teach ballet through his unique Prana Paint approach to students there.
He adds, “It is from the chaos that one comes to realisations. The acceptance of chaos and order in every part of one’s life, within yourself, your country or home, or the larger universe. Recognising and accepting it all is home.”
Lobo’s piece is the third phase of this five-part association which will be showcased live at the Flushing Town Hall, New York in February. His tenure as a choreographer has seen him cross boundaries not just of countries but also of dance and its interpretations. He has represented India in South Africa, Israel, Germany, Taiwan, and the US among others. In India, his contribution has manifested in The Danceworx Academy and Navdhara India Dance Theatre, two of the country’s top dance institutions.
