Contemporary Dancer, Shruti Maria Datar’s’ C. Tactil ‘is all about the power of touch

A Contemporary dance performance C. Tactille will be presented in Bengaluru. Conceptualized and Choreographed by Shruti Maria Datar, A Bombay-Based Independent Artist, The Performance Aims to Explore What it means to Embody A FEMALE IDENTY IN A FEMALE IDENTY IN A WORLD WHERE CHERE THE SHARE Perceptions, Shruti Says over the phone from Mumbai Amidst Her Dance Rehearsals.

“The dance invites audiences to witness the dancers as canvies as canvases of resistance, vulnerability, and resilience, embracing the contradictions of touch as both an experience of intervention.”

C. Tactille is a full-length contemporary duet, created with movement collaborator, melitta dsouza. Shruti will be joined on the stage by nishashmita, and the duo will perform to pre-resounded music, an original composition by adriel george.

The dance is produced by the movement arts co, an initiative which functions across the three verticals through dance programs in schools, ViewPOINT (ARAWDFUNDED Platform for Emerging Choreography and supporting the creation and showcase of artistic projects in Mumbai, explains shruti, who has had her professional dance training in the contemporary generation, Belgium.

A Trained Classical Dancer (Bharatanatyam), Shruti, Uses Movement to Explore Themes of Identity, Culture and Human Emotion. Thought She Finds Contemporary Dance a Form that Gives Her The Freedom to Explore Movement and Abstract Concepts, She also be also believes bharatanatyam has not restricted her.

“It has given me a strong foundation as bharatanatyam involves gestures, hand and feet movements, abhinaya.”

When People Think of Contemporary Dance, Shruti Says, they strip the form off many these classical attributes. “As I Draw from My Personal Experiences, Bharatantayam is very much a part of that process. Hence, I include gestural and facial expression to my contemporary work as well.”

Shruti, who trained at Attakkalari Center for Movement Arts, Bengaluru, Adds That She Trains Her Body in A Rigorous Manner. “So it moves in the way I want it to and conveys what i want it to, flu

Shruti’s Choreographic Work-in-Progress, Phi Showcased at the Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards 2016 and the dancer has also been also been featured in the dance films series Moving Cities Brussels,

Her Dance Concepts are Always Abstract, Shruti Says. “The beauty of Contemporary dance is that the audience is free to perceive it according to their interpretations. Narrave, but prefer it to extract what they connect to.

Her movement vocabulary, says the dancer, is based on her memory, identity and experiences of being a woman in a metro, Navigating the world.

When Creating C. TactilleShruti says she was drawn to the contradictions inharent in the act of touch. “It has the power to nurture and to wound, to connect and to isolate. The choreography emerged as an ongoing conversation between the dancers and the concept of embodiment. Responds to being seen, touched, or even anticipated as an object of touch. “

The dance, shruti says covers all aspects of touch from a gender percent, personal as well as from a larger socio-POLITICAL Perspective.

Dancers’ Bodies, Shruti Says, Are Not Just Performs, But Are Storytellers, Canvases, and Sites of Transformation. “Through Intricate Patterns, Moments of Stillness, and Explosive Bursts of Movement, they review

C.tactil Will be presented at medai-the stage on April 11, 7pm. It is a ticked show.

Published – April 10, 2025 09:53 AM IST