Shivalingappa, Namasya -- Dance Performance Review

Shantala Shivalingappa

Namasya -- Dance Performance

Herbst Theater, San Francisco

April 16, 2013

 

I didn't care for this.  This was a solo performance of Indian dance in the Kuchipudi style, to Indian music.  The music was better than the dancing.  I couldn't relate to it.  I found it wearisome and dull.  It lacked engagement.  It was solipsistic.  Some of it reminded me of those pantomime games where one person acts out a scenario and the rest of the group tries to guess what it is.  It was like she had something in her head, but I couldn't seem to connect with what it was. 

She started out on her back toward the rear of the stage making painfully slow movements as if she were getting up in the morning very, very slowly -- a decidedly downbeat way to start.  I often get up like that myself first thing in the morning, but it is not interesting to watch, and I would never have the temerity to perform it on stage and expect people to be interested in it. 

Most of this performance was slow and static, decidedly undramatic and even disengaged.  For a couple of segments she left the stage allowing screens came down and a video of her dancing in costume appeared on the screen.  It was a video I would never watch were it to be given to me.  It was totally uninteresting.  I couldn't understand why this was presented in a video.  Was she too lazy to just go out there and do it herself?  I think it emphasized her unwillingness to make full contact with the audience, which seemed to be a theme of this performance. 

A further segment underlined this.  It was done mostly on her knees with her back to the audience making movements with her arms and torso.  When her back was not to the audience, she hid her face in her arms.  It was as if she were avoiding making contact with the audience, refusing to look at them.  I got the same feeling from it that I have had sometimes pursuing a woman I am interested in and she is making no response.  Not a negative response, but no response.  As if her back is to me and she is ignoring me, totally stonewalling, not willing to be engaged or communicative in any way whatsoever.   Not exactly the way for a woman to get a good review from me, and that was how I felt during much of this performance. 

I made up my mind as I was sitting there not to even review this show.  I don't like to write this kind of a review.  I like young women and I try to encourage them, but I started getting annoyed as it dragged on.  This woman is unprepared to be doing this kind of a performance, and San Francisco Performances did not do her a favor presenting her in a venue for which she is not artistically ready. Someone has to tell her.  A reviewer also has a responsibility to inform the public what they are in for when they take time and spend money to attend a performance.  Why should I keep silent to protect a poor performer who is out there soliciting paying audiences? 

When you go out on a stage and do a solo performance: an hour or more of nothing but you, it has to be strong, and you have to have an imposing presence that can connect with the audience and sustain their attention.  People are paying money and spending their time to view this.  It has to have something to offer, something to engage them, stimulate them, connect with them on some level or other.  You can't just bore them to death and expect them to like it.  You take a big risk when you do a show like this as a solo performer.  If people don't like it, it all comes down on you.  You're not part of a group that shares responsibility and offers support.  Shivalingappa does not have the kind of presence and artistic strength necessary to pull this off.  This performance was not substantial.  It was tedious.  She is way out of her league.  She should be dancing in a troupe learning her craft. 

Maybe I am spoiled.  I just saw the San Francisco Ballet the other night and those dancers are first rate.  Every single one of them is masterful with a commanding presence that you can feel all the way up to the top of the balcony.  Shivalingappa is not anywhere near that caliber and certainly not of a stature to be doing a solo show on her own.  But it was mercifully short.  That was the best part.  Some serious rethinking need to be done with this one.  I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend this.