What can you say about the perfect, wholly committed embodiment of an incomprehensible form? A chasm divides Westerners’ understanding and treatment of religion from the ancient, highly codified Hindu operas of India.
That said, barriers to enjoyment tend to fall away while watching “Akasha” (Sanskrit for “sky” or “space”), a five-section, evening-length dance solo at the Dance Center through Saturday. Performed by the superb Shantala Shivalingappa and four brilliant onstage musicians — two percussionists, a flutist and a singer — “Akasha” is ineffable, a delicacy undergirded by ironclad discipline.
Shivalingappa performs kuchipudi, a southern Indian form that, like all classical Indian dance, derives from a 2,000-year-old treatise, the Natya Shastra. By the 1930s, some believed kuchipudi had become overly “rustic” and innovated by returning it to its more refined roots. Vempati Chinna Satyam, Shivalingappa’s mentor, was among them; his son, Vempati Ravi Shankar, choreographed four sections of “Akasha.”
Essentially an ambassador of kuchipudi, Shivalingappa has performed “Akasha” in Europe and the U.S.; its sections alternately display her mastery of abhinaya, or expressive narrative dance, and nrtta, abstract and purely musical. After an opening invocation, Shivalingappa embodies a tale of the mischievous Child Shiva; abstractly represents the goddess Durga; enacts a quarrel between a goddess and her husband; and depicts the destructive aspect of god Shiva.
This may sound fragmented, but emotional and physical motifs tie the evening together. Righteous anger — revealed in the three middle sections with a lean backward, arm pulled up and back to strike or shoot an arrow — confers power, culminating in Shiva’s destruction/creation. Fond, serene forgiveness drives the mother figure, the goddess Durga and the wronged wife.
Without a bobble or trace of effort, Shivalingappa assails and conquers all the challenges of this demanding form. Each limb and plane of the body adopts a different asymmetrical angle, softened and refined by her technique. In nrtta, she can burst into a storm of stamping perfectly timed with the musicians’ hugely complex rhythms, then stop on a dime. Eyes move in concert with the music; absolute control extends to every joint of every finger.
Lability defines “Akasha,” and perhaps all Indian dance. Rhythms, facial expressions, bodily movements shift abruptly and constantly, casting a beautiful, shimmering veil of change over some fundamental unity; instability and stability form a gestalt.
But Westerners’ unfamiliarity with the art form — especially the stories told through abhinaya, whose nuances are obscure — poses serious challenges to appreciation. Without better knowledge of kuchipudi, we can’t truly see or judge its unique beauty. However, “Akasha” takes a giant step toward understanding.
DANCE REVIEW: Akasha by Shantala Shivalingappa
3.5 STARS
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
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Where: Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Running time: 80 minutes
Tickets: $30 at 312-369-8330 or colum.edu/dance-center