As a part of a series of international collaborations with choreographers, composers and dance historians, two artists from Canada spent four months in Chennai (Madras) working with the Arangham Dance Troupe.

Hari Krishnan, a Bharatanatyam dancer trained by Kitappa Pillai, choreographed two pieces on five dancers examining the relationship between movement and architecture. Working with Devesh Soneji, a Sanskrit scholar, Krishnan approached the choreography from the springboards of classical Bharatanatyam and modern dance.

The choreography explored the interrelation between physical and kinetic structures. Using lines, angles, circles and freeforms, the dancers moved around and within the monuments reflecting a subconscious “encoding” of structures in form, foundations, shapes and emotions.

Originally performed in Canada in 1996 with two dancers, Movements / Monuments, when transferred onto five Bharatanatyam dancers in Chennai (Madras), assumed a totally different aesthetic. The piece premiered at the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha dance festival on 6th January, 1998 and again at Alliance Francaise de Chennai (Madras) on 21st January, 1998.