The festival ends today and is being held in cooperation with Srishti Cultural Centre, Bandhu Social Welfare Society, Boys of Bangladesh and Swaprovo. It wants to generate awareness against the collective denial of the existence of a homosexual community in Bangladesh.
Thursday's programme consisted of the inauguration of the exhibitions -- “New Family Portraits” by photographer Verena Jaekel and “The other Side of the Wall” by Shah Mohammad Sazzad Hossain. An open discussion by photographer Dr. Shahidul Alam and a short film screening followed.
The dance show of Anisul Islam Hero, the founder director of Srishti Cultural Centre, and his dance troupe consisted of eight exciting pieces that spoke an understandable language without using words. Nevertheless, a narrator gave some background information to each of the performances.
A prelude was given with the piece “Aguner Poroshmoni”, which was invoking the cleansing power of fire. Nine male and female dancers appeared in the bluish light, wrapped in wide white garments. They gracefully bowed to the ground and stretched towards the sky, pirouetted, danced light-footed over the small stage and finally wrapped themselves in a red cloth. The accompanying lyrics were by Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Life as an amalgamation of emotions and various stages of our lives were articulated by the dancers in the performance “Colours of Life”. “Birth, happiness, sorrow, love, separation and the ultimate demise of existence -- each has its purpose and time,” the narrator explained.
In the piece “Colour”, the dancers were wrapped in sari-like costumes, and the stage resembled a paint box. Blue danced with yellow and green, pink joined red and white's flirt, orange appeared with red and yellow, until in the end, the stage became one moving rainbow.
Especially expressive were “Envy” and “Growing Dhaka”. “Envy” depicted desire as a basic instinct of man in a fusion dance. “Growing Dhaka” expressed the difficulties of a little tree growing in an overcrowded mega city.
Srishti Cultural Centre has been an important partner of the Goethe-Institut for 17 years since it was formed in Dhaka in 1994. Anisul Islam Hero founded the dance troupe to promote traditional classical dance, Bangladeshi folk dance as well as modern contemporary dance that reflect the cultural heritage of Bangladesh. The aim is to increase the popularity of these forms of dances both in Bangladesh and abroad. Srishti also has a strong commitment to humanity and society, and its performances are guided by this intention in mind. The dancers have performed several times for the World and International AIDS Conferences to raise awareness in HIV/AIDS.
A fusion of eastern and western forms, called “Time”, wrapped up Thursday's dance performance.
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