Between 8 and 1: A raw and heartfelt fusion of Ghanaian and Indian dance
Words MIRANNE WATLEY // Stills ELLIE LOUISE WEST
Last month, Afro Dance Blast took over Millfield Theatre. MOVES spoke to one of the dancers, Adhish Arul, to hear about his blend of Ghanaian and Indian choreography and what makes ADB such a special night.
Heating up an already very warm summer, Afro Dance Blast returned for its annual performance at the end of last month. The community showcase, co-founded by Olu Alatise and Yann Bolenge, celebrated its fifth anniversary with a stacked lineup, featuring groups such as StepIn2 Afro, House of Piano, HomeFam, and, of course, AfroQueens (Olu’s own company). From 5pm, Millfield Theatre was filled with food, DJ sets, and throngs of excited dancers, many of whom featured in the evening performance, which began a few hours later at 8. The community effort that had gone into the night was clear.
What really stood out to me, as an Afro Dance Blast newbie, was how inclusive this community felt. The evening was filled with fleeting conversations between strangers sitting next to each other and smiles across the theatre as the music blared a familiar song. The conventional applause after each piece was replaced with loving cheers and shoutouts to friends on stage. Afro Dance Blast reminded me how powerful communities are when they are open, an easy message to lose sight of in an increasingly hostile contemporary climate calling for closed borders and strict homogeneity.
One performance where this message was especially clear was Adhish Arul’s Between 8 and 1* which combined Azonto (a contemporary Ghanaian street style) with Bharatanatyam (a classical Indian style). The day after the show, MOVES got the chance to speak to Adhish, the creative director and co-choreographer of Between 8 and 1. Adhish was careful to reiterate that acceptance was at the core of the event, and London’s Afro dance community as a whole. “I
have always felt that they give space for guests to their culture… When I cast my dancers I made sure to pick people who don’t take that for granted”.
The nine dancers Adhish featured throughout the piece carried this care across the stage as intricate details of movement were thoughtfully layered. Beginning with minimal breaths before exploding into raw and dynamic choreography, Between 8 and 1 was an ambitious fusion of Indian and Ghanaian dance. This fusion was especially important to Adhish, who felt it reflected his own diverse identity, having grown up in India before moving to the UK to become an active member of London’s Afro dance community. “I feel like I’m a fusion of different things”. While fusions between different street styles often emerge in Adhish’s work, Between 8 and 1 was his first time combining a street style (Azonto) with a classical form (Bharatanatyam).
But beyond simply including these distinct styles in his piece, Adhish constructed his dance with diverse cultural references and muses that spanned nations. His initial inspiration was Pongal, a four-day harvest festival celebrated in the southern regions of India. The festival emphasises the process behind the rice harvest and honours its natural and spiritual elements, paying thanks to
the Sun God and farm animals. This inspiration, and its focus on the harvest’s process rather than its outcome, led Adhish to Kolam. Kolam is the art of drawing with rice flour and is often a daily practice that decorates the floors of homes with sweeping curves and elaborate grids. Its shapes (typically triangles, circles, and symmetrical dots) guided the movements of Between 8 and 1 as Adhish’s choreography was heavily inspired by a Kolam his mother drew for him.
Between 8 and 1 is a vulnerable and personal presentation of South Asian culture but, importantly, finds its power by uniting traditional Indian elements with modern African ones. During Adhish’s research he discovered the parallels between Pongal and Iri Ji, a Nigerian festival that celebrates the harvest of yams. “They celebrate the crops that grow in that region and we celebrate the crops that grow in ours, but the idea behind it remains the same”. Adhish’s genuine joy at this similarity was clear and reflected the same openness and warmth that ran throughout Afro Dance Blast.
Celebrating Afro dance, itself a heterogeneous category, the night perfectly balanced preserving culture with presenting its dynamism and diversity, and celebrated the unexpected connections that this formed. For example, working with classically-trained Bharatanatyam dancers helped Adhish highlight a shared focus on hand movements between Azonto and the classical Indian style. “Azonto has three elements: the footwork, the upper body groove, and the hand signals, and hand signals are the most important… If you look at Bharatanatyam it also has a lot of hand representation. I always feel connected to how one is a street dance form and one is a completely classical style but they have this similarity in hand signals”. Intentional research, an original soundtrack, and hours of rehearsals made Between 8 and 1 a deeply meaningful part of Afro Dance Blast’s programme.
And the entire night maintained this thoughtful appreciation. From the audience’s encouraging praise to the sincere speeches that closed the show, respect and care characterised the performance and built an incredibly inclusive space. Adhish, reiterating this care, emphasised
how AfroQueens always “make sure the space celebrates everyone, they make sure the space welcomes everyone”. The evening embodied this embrace and highlighted the creative potential of dance, as well as its vital position across national and regional cultures. I’m already looking forward to next year’s performance and am excited to discover new ways that we can celebrate dance’s enduring cultural legacies.
*8 and 1 are the counts typically used in Azonto dance. The “between” in the title stresses the bridge that Adhish is drawing between Ghanaian and Indian dance styles.
Choreographers ADHISH ARUL, ELSA ROY GUPTA
Choreographers (Bharathanatyam) KRITHIKA SOMA, SNEHA SEMALEESAN
Dance Artists VINU JEY, MOHAMED AIDHHIQUE, DIYA CLARIS JOSEPH, KAYODE ANIFOWOSE, SANIYA SHAH, ELSA ROY GUPTA, KRITHIKA SOMA, SNEHA SEMALEESAN, ADHISH ARUL
Music Producer SACHIN NAGARAJAN