INTERVIEW: Raghav Handa and Maharshi Raval brings an intergenerational dance piece to PICA
Coming from the minds of Raghav Handa (Dancer) and Maharshi Raval (Percussion), ‘TWO’ is a dance piece brought to us by the intergenerational duo of dancer and drummer, playing at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). Hailing from Sydney, Raghav and Maharshi have spent the past ten years pushing their artistic boundaries, sonically and physically. Now in Perth, they have come to showcase their own innovative take on the mathematical, Kathak dancing.
I had a chance to speak to Raghav before the opening night on the 20th of September, being able to understand the minds and lives behind ‘TWO’.
IN: how long have you known each other for?
Raghav: We have known each other for thirteen years now! We initially met at a corporate gig, companies would have special parties for their organisations and team building events, different artists and performers would be asked to perform, and this was the nature of how we connected.
I had initially assumed you had both met in traditional spaces, does this ring true in any way?
I would like to preface with saying I am a contemporary dancer, I trained in contemporary, and although I have trained in Kathak when I was very young, my interests have not developed further in that style of dance. Although, some of the movements are still in my body, and much of the rhythms and mathematics is embedded within me. When I create works much of the musicality is inspired by that mathematics.’
Raghav further explained to me the codified rhythmic nature of Kathak, how certain rhythms would represent certain steps and patterns, which forced me to pose the question,
What happens when roles are reversed?
This brings up the main theme of this piece. This piece shows that life is not just about success, there are ups and downs, rhythms that don’t sit right and positions that could feel awkward. To the trained eye, moments of slips and misses will be noticeable and even comical. Because life isn’t about success, it is not just about having everything perfect, ideas do go off the rails, and as humans we aren’t perfect.
Could you tell us more about Maharshi’s background in music?
Maharshi has been playing Tabla for around 35 years and onwards!? Originally from Gujarat, he’s quite a sought-after Tabla player, nationally and within Sydney. He also plays with bands and other musical groups, and has a remarkable presence in the Indian traditional ceremonies and functions in Sydney. Coming from a strongly traditional scene, it took us some opportunities to move outside of the shell of traditional music, which only went to show his musical and professional agility.
Over the past ten years, what has been a memorable moment of your creativity?
A memorable moment we had was working on a project called ‘Folly & Time’, which has largely existed virtually. I had a three-way conversation, with two split screens, a physical one of myself and a virtual one of me communicating to Maharshi. Much of this piece was about exploring percussion as a means of communication between virtual and physical, and how we could experiment with objects and sound, which took us down another path of using Bananas as musical objects, hooking them up to software and creating sounds and rhythms via software! It is these kinds of moments where we love our sense of collaboration and giving nature. Our relationship is strongly built on a nature of giving, which allows us to push our artistic boundaries, experiment and innovate.
That is quite amazing that you have both been able to cross over in your work, yourself going into traditional spaces and for him to move into experimental and contemporary styles!
Yes! Marashi has such an incredibly generous spirit, and is very easy going. We all have a tendency as humans to be rigid in our own selves, and what has allowed for myself and Marashi to collaborate has been our willingness to seek different perspectives, and sometimes it can be a simple thing, but it can be one of the hardest things to do.
The intergenerational bromance of Raghav and Maharshi’s ‘TWO’ will be Showcasing at PICA from the 20th of September to the 23rd September. Click here for more details.
