Korzo Zaal
Odissi - Lineage in Motion
| maker | Sooraj Subramaniam |
| Duration | 75 min |
With Odissi – Lineage in Motion, Australian-Belgian dance artist Sooraj Subramaniam presents a collage of Indian dance that is constantly evolving. At its core is Odissi, one of India’s oldest classical dance forms, inspired by the beauty of temple sculptures.
On stage, we see how the connecting lines between this classical form and contemporary reinterpretation are mapped out through both abstract, pure dance and expressive storytelling. At once grand and intimate, ritualistic and fleeting.
Odissi is a grounded dance form that combines intricate, rhythmic footwork with a fluid, wave-like spine and refined hand gestures. The form is expressed through both nritta (the complex, non-narrative architecture of pure dance) and abhinaya (expressive storytelling). Don’t expect a search for answers, but an exploration of atmosphere and imagery. For Sooraj, Odissi is a practice in constant evolution, where past and present remain in ongoing dialogue. Open to interpretation and always in motion.
Sooraj Subramaniam is an Australian-Belgian dance artist of Malaysian-Indian heritage. Trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi in Malaysia, he later studied ballet in Australia and graduated from the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts. In the UK, he worked with SRISHTI, teaching and performing Bharatanatyam, and toured internationally with Akademi, Balbir Singh Dance Company, and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. He also trained in Kathak with Urja Desai Thakore, adding to his varied vocabulary.
Since moving to Belgium in 2012, he has collaborated with choreographers such as Nicole Kohler, Kalpana Raghuraman, Seeta Patel, and created his own work supported by Maghenta. Notable projects include Nocturne at The Place Theatre UK, nimbus at Sangam Festival AUS, and Other Places of Being, a dance film commissioned by the Baryshnikov Arts Centre USA. His solo production Reflections of an Indian Dancer toured the UK and Europe, followed by PALLAVI, an ensemble work performed across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and India.
Sooraj’s artistic practice embraces ‘contemporary’ not as a fixed genre but as an immediate, personal approach that honours classical motifs while dissolving boundaries between traditions, identities, and modes of embodiment. His work tests the elasticity of form, informed by multiple lineages yet committed to artistic specificity and individuality.
Curator: Kalpana Raghuraman
Performer: Sooraj Subramaniam
Production: Maghenta
Technical team: Laura Neyskens, Raphael Vandeweyer
With the support of: Star Gent / The City of Ghent
"He spins so fast that, in the warm light, his arms briefly become as fluid as the silk fabrics that dance pioneer Loïe Fuller once swept through the room."
— Lieve Dierckx, pzazz.theater
Korzo Zaal