Lilian Baylis Studio Theatre at Sadler’s Wells, London
May 5, 2017
Maggie Foyer
It was a connoisseur’s evening: a unique blend of specialist flavours wrought in finest detail. In Silk Road, Jose Agudo presents himself first as a flamenco dancer, his native form, before venturing into kathak and finally sharing the stage with bharatanatyam dancer, Mavin Khoo. Agudo is one of a growing group of multilingual dance artists: artists who train to a high level in one form then turn their attentions across national boundaries to investigate different forms.
Novelist, Salman Rushdie, is another who ‘celebrates hybridity, impurity [and] the transformation that comes of new and unexpected combinations of human beings, culture and ideas’. And, to be honest where would the arts be without it? This was an evening of extraordinary movement, much of it culturally recognisable and some thrillingly new as contemporary dance entered the ethnic mix.
Agudo is a man of the theatre and in his opening flamenco solo, choreographed by Rafael Amargo, he is a riveting presence. In the dark surround, his body pulsates with rhythm as furious outbursts of heel beats are punctuated by moments of intense silence and barely restrained passions. His transition to kathak in a solo choreographed by Nihid Siddiqui, was measured as he sat on stage winding ghungroos around his ankles. The contrast in styles is extreme. Rhythm now emanating from hard bare feet and the intense concentration finding a quieter centre. If Agudo speaks kathak in a different accent it is not without its own charm.
The second part introduced guest artist Mavin Khoo and, choreographed by Agudo the language again found a new accent. Khoo, an agile mover, skimming the surface of the stage in lightning fast turns was balanced by Agudo’s deeper centred fluidity. Their styles blended as sitting or kneeling they conversing in elaborate hand gestures or in powerful and sensual dance as they commanded the whole stage.
The two composer/musicians were as stylistically diverse as the dancers. Bernhard Schimpelsberger added to his jazz and Western classical traditions the dedicated study of Indian tabla and shares his rich talents in a thrilling performance. Giuliano Modarelli likewise gives guitar playing, notably sarod technique, an international reach. Between them they added immense value to this extraordinary fusion of cross cultural dance and music.