Herald-Sun, The (includes Raleigh Extra and Chapel Hill Herald (Durham , NC
| Herald-Sun, The ( June 17, 2006 Dance styles fuse to impress Indian and tap dances unite in Page performance SUSAN BROILI sbroili@heraldsun.com; 419-6632 Page: E1 To say they've got rhythm would go beyond understatement, based on performances Thursday at the American Dance Festival's Rhythm Suites: Kathak & Tap Dance program. Pandit Chitresh Das, 60, and Jason Samuels Smith, 34, not only have rhythm; they are rhythm. They live and breathe rhythm. They got on top, beneath, around and even inside the rhythm and took the audience along in an amazing performance that had the Page Auditorium audience on its feet. Das, with bare feet and 10 rows of bells that encircled each ankle, and Smith, with taps on shoes, cast their individual spells in solos. Together with six gifted musicians, they really created magic as their rhythmic patterns flowed in an ocean of percussion that lapped the shores of Indian musicians Pandit Ramesh Mishra, Abhijit Banerjee and Jayanta Banerjee played sarangi, tabla and sitar, respectively, while John Hanks, Ben Palmer, and Elmer Gibson did the same on drums, double bass and piano. They didn't just play. They grooved, and so did the dancers, especially in the last section, "India Jazz Suites." In it, all performers displayed a mastery and spirit of adventure that enabled them to ebb and flow in a call and response that at one point rippled from one end of the stage to the other and back again as dancers, in turn, challenged musicians to respond, and respond they did -- without missing a beat. The first inkling that this would be one of those rare evenings came with the sounds of Smith whistling as he came down the theater aisle, then tapped his way up steps to the stage. Next, the two re-enacted how they met in 2004, when they shared an American Dance Festival program and became intrigued with each other's footwork. Afterwards, they began working together to understand what made each other tick -- and tap. Be glad they did. Having seen that 2004 performance, it's evident that they now deeply understand each other's way with rhythm so they not only play off each other in mock competition, but also jam together in an intricacy of beats that has to be heard to be believed. Sometimes, they moved so fast that their feet blurred like speeding racecars. In his performance with the Indian musicians, Smith displayed his devotion to tapping into the essence of the incredibly intricate rhythms developed over centuries in As musicians played, Smith listened with his entire being, then delivered the same pattern of beats with his feet. When it was over, he reached out and clasped the hand of tabla player Abhijit Banerjee -- a visual symbol of the cultural bridge they had created. Earlier, in his Kathak solo, Das demonstrated different rhythmic structures, including a 16-beat count. He also shared how this rich classical tradition from He became a one-man cast in the story of how an arrogant, deceitful man sent his servant, disguised as a golden deer, to enchant, then kidnap a woman. His hand depicted the horned head of the deer, his feet the deer's leaping hooves. At another point, Smith even rapped about their collaboration as Das played tabla. "With speech, beat, feet, we keep it complete," Smith rhymed. Indeed, they do. Go and Do WHAT: The American Dance Festival presents Rhythm Suites: Kathak & Tap Dance with Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith. WHEN: 8 p.m. today. WHERE: TICKETS: Call 684-4444 or visit www.tickets.duke.edu Copyright, 2006, The Durham Herald Company |
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