Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Members of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Company perform at Mehfil-Dances of India at the Philip Sherlock Centre For The Creative Arts, UWI, Mona, on Saturday. - Photos by Nathaniel Stewart

Trains in India have a reputation of being overloaded, but on Friday evening it was a near capacity and orderly set of passengers who turned up for a ride on rails through Indian dance.

Naturally, there was no caboose and no track at the Philip Sherlock Centre For The Creative Arts, UWI, Mona. Instead, the two ladies who hosted the trip through Indian movement that was 'Mehfil 2007: Dances of India' used the image of a train travelling across the sub-continent, the passengers getting a look at the dances of the various regions.

And since India is too large to be covered in a two-hour journey, the dances were linked in pairs of carriages that would normally not be hooked together.

How it started

Surinamese dancers Anand Ramcharan and Ms. Jhauw gesture during a Kathak dance.

'Mehfil' started of with members of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Clico Shiv Shakti Dance Company seated on the stage, with two huge drawings of dancers on either side of the stage. The one in gold was the central figure, various formations revolving around her, while at other times she was out front. The sounds of many tiny bells on their ankles accented the music and, after a coordinated handclap, they moved sideways offstage to applause.

When the curtain opened again, the backdrop had changed to the huge outline of India, along with a number of elephants at the bottom of a beautiful, intricate design, which would remain for the rest of 'Mehfil'.

The narrative 'Kathak' dance form, which originates in the heartland of North India, followed, with Anand Ramcharan preceding Nadani Jhauw taking the stage. Hands trembling, Ramcharan whirled before moving gracefully offstage to return with Jhauw,the two fusing in a series ofcoordinated moves.

The evening's hostesses noted that the dance had both Hindu and Muslim influences, neatly slipping in one of the many jokes that marked the evening as one noted that "those 200 bells on the ankle would make our Prime Minister Bruce very happy". "We are in India, do not flip-flop," the other said, to more laughter.

The musical train chugged over to Punjab for a folk dance by four women in gold and black with red rags in their hands, which flapped as they did a move close to the dancehall 'Shelly Belly'.

Several enthusiastic young men, each with short silver sticks glistening in both hands, showed the dances of Gujarat, long scarves flowing as they twirled. A scarf fell and was tossed aside with nimble feet. The pace changed, they left, one returning as the forerunner to a belly dancer, for whom the others came back to show renewed vigour and enthusiasm as they formed a backdrop to her smooth moves. And one stooped on one knee to look up at her adoringly as she danced with one foot on the raised knee.

A dancer in brown and black whirled to show black tights under her flowing skirt, rapid hip swishes punctuating the dance, before the train pulled into the station for a leg-stretching turn around the platform with the classical 'Odissi' dance form from Orissa in Eastern India. The dance form originated in the state of Orissa in Eastern India and is one of the country's oldest surviving forms.

'Kathak', from the previous pair, was the engine that pulledthe musical carriages back out on the journey, before a group of women seemed to float on the stage in the 'Manipuri' dance, their feet occasionally showing below the low hems of their barrel-style skirts. A dance to the national song of India came before the closing trip to Bollywood, an uptempo jam that celebrated the largest movie industry in the world.

Left: Ms. Jhauw displays her elaborate costume. Right: Surinamese dancer Nandani Jhauw.