Duration: 01:03:58; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 30.342; Saturation: 0.262; Lightness: 0.146; Volume: 0.190; Cuts per Minute: 0.063; Words per Minute: 0.063
Summary: It is hard to find the right qualifying word to describe Padmini Chettur's links with tradition. In the act of defining it is as a departure from tradition, a breakaway, trying to articulate negation and resistance, one inextricably, and doubly links her work to tradition. The meditative repetition of movement that she has come to explore in her works can seem intentionally tortuous; yet it provokes a re-imagination of the body not just as an object in space - but a being shaped by space even as it shapes space.
This performance of beautiful thing 2 was shot at the Singapore Arts Festival. Speaking at the festival about her piece, Padmini said, "beautiful thing 2 started as a study for the body to actually remain as an object. So I started to look very sculpturally and then to create systems of movement that...thereby, the body would actually carry space, that, I think audiences immediately start to think about their own bodies. I think it's nice to provoke a reaction of self-reflection. It's important in our time to slow down and I'm not saying coming to a performance is the only way to do it, but if it can be a way, then I think it's interesting to also view this way."
Padmini Chettur (b. 1970) is a contemporary dancer whose training began in the traditional Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. Between the years 1991 and 2001 she worked with the legendary choreographer Chandralekha. In 1994, she began her own artistic research. Her other choreographic productions include Fragility (2001), 3 Solos(2003), Paper Doll (2005), Pushed (2006) and beautiful thing 1 (2009).
Pad.ma requires JavaScript.
