Last weekend, The North Wall marked the opening of Dancin’ Oxford’s Spring Festival with performances by Amina Khayyam Dance Company (AKDC) and James Wilton Dance.

AKDC is a Kathak-based company, and when the auditorium opened, musicians Debasish Mukherjee, Jonathan Mayer and Iain McHugh (on tabla, sitar and cello, respectively) were already in place beside the empty, blue-lit stage. Due to a last minute programme change, the show began with an improvisation session in which dancer Amina Khayyam and the musicians introduced some of the musical ideas and rhythms that we would hear again in the main piece. Khayyam, who trained in Kathak with Alpana Sengupta and Sushmita Ghosh, is a compelling dancer, and she has assembled an exceptionally accomplished group of performers.

Story of ONE, Story of MANY is a variation of AKDC’s production ONE, choreographed by Khayyam, who joined the musicians in parhant (the recitation of syllables) at the side of the stage. Three dancers, Abirami Eswar, Mohika Shankar and Jalpa Vala swirled their long dresses, spinning in beautiful swathes of movement, their bare feet beating the ground. Among the images of toil and loss (at one point a dancer seemed to give away her baby), there was also playfulness, when a dancer mimed a juggling game. The allusive nature of the work, somewhere between the abstract and the representational, left it full of uncertainty and ambiguity, perhaps triggering memories rather than telling a story.

The following evening, James Wilton and Sarah Jane Taylor’s LORE offered a terrific theatrical experience in which their gymnastic leaps, lifts and turns and subtle use of lighting created the illusion of many armed monsters and giants in shocking silhouettes. We saw a hideous straw-headed beast, horned creatures and a man turned into a tree. Inspired by pagan mythology this was not cosy folklore but a horrifying account of metamorphosis and terror. Michael Wojtas’ music added to the sense of mystery and oneness with nature by incorporating sounds of the natural world (sea, wind, birdsong, and crackling fire). The minimalist set, designed by Wilton, used vertical poles, resembling tall stalactites or the bare skeletons of trees, interspersed with round flat discs, like stepping stones. There was so much content in this densely packed dance work that at times I felt lost, searching for narrative in what seemed to be excerpts of unfamiliar stories, but the dramatic impact of such a committed and highly professional performance was breathtaking.

Maggie Watson

3rd March 2024

Find out more about Amina Khayyam Dance Company here

Find out more about James Wilton Dance here

And check out further Dancin’ Oxford events here