Accompanying Arzoo Dance Theatre
Role: Scenography, Lighting, and Projection Design
Location: John F. Kennedy Theatre, Honolulu, HI
Production Overview
As a Resident Artist for the 2025 Asia Pacific Dance Festival (APDF), Arzoo Dance Theatre presented a series of works for the ‘Ike Hana Concerts that explored the festival’s central theme of hulihia—a Hawaiian concept signifying transformation, reckoning, and upheaval. Under the direction of Deepti Gupta, the company utilized the classical vocabulary of Kathak to engage with contemporary narratives of cultural memory, identity, and the intersection of traditional and modern aesthetics.
Scenographic & Visual Approach
The visual design for Arzoo’s residency was integrated across two distinct programs, balancing the virtuosic technical requirements of traditional Kathak with the atmospheric storytelling of contemporary dance theatre.
- Self-Portraits with Amrita: For this exploration of Indo-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gil, the scenography functioned as a locus for cultural memory. Projection design integrated Sher-Gil’s imagery to deconstruct the boundaries between the painter and the performer, reflecting her multicultural identity and the daily lives of rural Indian women.
- Traditional & Devotional Repertoire: The design for works such as Govarhan Leela and Shri Shri Nand Nandfocused on defining the emotional architecture of the Lucknow Gharana lineage. Lighting and spatial arrangements supported the rhythmic precision of 16-beat teentaal cycles and the narrative “storytelling” (Katha Vachan) characteristic of the style.
Cross-Cultural Dialogue
In alignment with the festival’s mission of fostering global dialogue, the production was presented alongside works by Hālau Pua Ali‘i ‘Ilima (Hawai‘i) and Rako Pasefika (Rotuma, Fiji). The visual environment for Arzoo’s set was designed to resonate with these diverse indigenous narratives, contributing to a collective exploration of how movement archives history and proposes new ways of seeing.
Performance Details
- Artistic Director: Deepti Gupta
- Featured Performers: Deepti Gupta, Sukriti Sharma, Priyanka Tope
- Music & Concept: Inspired by the legacies of Guru Munna Lal Shukla and Guru Rohini Bhate
- Presented by: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Outreach College and the East-West Center
