Part Thief, Part Disciple: a music/dance collaboration performed on Oct 22-3, 2010

Post Natyam Collective member Cynthia Ling Lee's artistic residency with pianist David Cutler culminated in Part Thief, Part Disciple, a discipline-breaking collaboration that combines music and movement in unconventional ways. Part Thief, Part Disciple premiered on 22-23 October 2010 under the name Inherent Contradictions as part of the Kuandu Arts Festival at the Taipei National University of the Arts.  In the program, North Indian rhythms transform into nonsensical English slang, a classical pianist turns into an unruly comic-book super-hero, and the line between dancer and musician becomes increasingly blurred.  The diverse works of the program cross cultural as well as disciplinary borders, with unique vocabularies that draw on the traditions of North Indian classical kathak, postmodern dance, jazz music, and western contemporary classical music.  

Performed in the round and integrating direct audience engagement, the program included the following works:

ruddha (rude, huh?)

written, choreographed and performed by Cynthia Ling Lee

based on traditional kathak compositions learned from Bandana Sen and Anjani Ambegaokar 

ruddha (rude, huh?) is a series of "false translations" of traditional kathak compositions, where North Indian rhythmic syllables transform into nonsensical English gossip, and idiosyncratic postmodern movement suddenly shifts into classical kathak.  The work careens between classical and street aesthetics to reveal the friction, dialogue, and humorous misunderstandings inherent to cultural collision. 

dreaming in taal

choreographed by Cynthia Ling Lee

performed by David Cutler and Cynthia Ling Lee

music by David Cutler based on a rhythmic composition by Lenny Seidman

A sinuous, dream-like contemporary kathak work driven by unconventional cross-rhythms and haunting melodies.  Material for dreaming in taal was developed at The Swarthmore Project, a residency program for choreographers and dancers sponsored by Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA.

Super Power

composed and performed by David Cutler

Super Power is an aggressive, rhythmic, virtuosic episode inspired by comic strip characters.  It is a battle of epic proportions between a Superhero pianist and an invisible Supervillain.  Will our hero be able to save the day?  Will our nemesis destroy concerts as we know it?  Will the audience be able to survive this trauma?  Stay tuned to find out…

You Ain’t Never Gonna Get Me Down

performed by David Cutler and Cynthia Ling Lee

The blues meet contact improvisation in a playful, rough-and-tumble work in which even the rudest interruption can’t keep the pianist from playing the blues.

Nine-Patch

choreographed and performed by Cynthia Ling Lee

composed and performed by David Cutler

based on traditional kathak compositions learned from Bandana Sen and Anjani Ambegaokar

Veering between in-your-face funk, explosive extremes, and poignant gestures, jazz/new music composer Cutler creates wildly new harmonies, melodies, and textures based on traditional kathak rhythms.  Lee plays a dancing trickster who gleefully engages in identity theft, shape-shifting between different characters and movement vocabularies while staying impeccably in time.