Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Members of the Anjali School of Dance share their culture at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, St Andrew on Saturday night. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographers

Different branches of Jamaican culture met in the movement of limbs and an array of sometimes dazzling costumes at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, St. Andrew, on Saturday night.

The 16-item 'Milan' was more than the debut performance of the Anjali School of Classical Dance. As Vishu Tolan, chairman of the National Council for Indian Culture, pointed out to the large audience, dominated by persons of Indian heritage, "Milan is not a performance, it is an event. This is the first time we are having a show with Indians and non-Indians, with no fear that one will overshadow the other. The motto 'Out of Many One People' is true tonight".

As such, at the beginning of 'Milan' the Jamaican national anthem was played, followed by the Indian national anthem. But there was absolutely no doubt that it was a predominantly Indian event as the Diya was duly lit in the left corner of the stage, from where the flame glowed.

And at the beginning of the first dance, 'Bande Mataram' the small Indian boy, who was ahead of three girls carrying baskets, toted miniature Jamaican and Indian flags.

Classical segment

That dance, which featured Anjali and the Tivoli Dancers, was the first of seven in the 'Classical' segment, the programme compered by an appropriately culturally mixed pair. The audience of mainly Indians was told that the following four items, 'Basanti He', Dhaki (Drum Dance), 'Kannamoochie' and 'Sansania' came from a suite of sorts, but it was the highly acrobatic Umojah Dance Theatre Company, in the last, which brought the house down, the moves complemented by high-intensity drumming and the first live singing of the night.

The 'Classical' segment was completed by the 'Ghost Dance', which opened with appropriately muted, bluish lighting on a male dancer with a skeleton outlined in white on his torso. It was, like many of the dances in 'Milan', a mass movement affair and there was laughter when a set of dancers with their limbs and heads protruding from brown rectangular boxes danced across the stage.

It was explained, as intermission was announced, that those were the ghosts of the rich people.

The 'Bollywood' segment began after the break without announcement, the glam, glitter and difference in movement was immediately clear as the sequinned outfits of an all-female cast of the Tivoli Dancers and Sherine shimmering as they utilised the stools in the café-style setting, high kicks and all. The hoists made it clear that there was a Bollywood before there was a Hollywood.

There were still classical moves, though, as the Anjali School did 'Suno Tum' and 'Hum Top Aisi' by themselves, St. Andrew's Prep. joining with Anjali for the very playful 'Dhoom Two'. Again Umojah brought the house down with a self-titled number, their lead dancer displaying incredible agility in a momentary sideways one-hand stand, body parallel to the stage.

Humour

The hips swung that much more prominently in 'Ye Ishq', featuring Anjali and the Tivoli Dancers, while the 'Unlimited' male quartet's red shirts with flared cuffs glowed as much as their faces as they dropped moves to rap fused with Indian music, two young women of Indian heritage joining them.

And on the penultimate 'Humme Pakad', the Mad Links pair danced in Indian costumes, humour coming through their work with the coloured scarves they unwrapped from their waists, a combination with a sole Anjali dancer coming before they made a final tumble and faced the audience, smiling.

It was not a perfect show, as going down the stretch there were overlong pauses between items, up to 40 seconds going by with opened curtains and a darkened stage. And the hosts' microphones were sometimes uncooperative. But when all the dancers gathered on stage, after the final mass movement piece 'Jalwa', which involved a large proportion of the entire cast, the cultural mix was very clear.

And although Tolan said the show did not break even, a commitment of $25,000 was still made to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.