Dancing in urban spaces

French dancer and choreographer Ali Salmi, who performed at the Priyadarshini Park, talks about the importance of taking dance from formal stages to unexplored open spaces.

For the French dancer and choreographer Ali Salmi — who has been exploring, writing, and dancing at the heart of the sensitive parts of the world and cities for the last 26 years— dance offers a chance to create spaces rather than restricting to the formal stages. “It is about the free-flow of the body, heart, and mind with the audience,” says the 53-year-old who took the audience by surprise with a unique dance performance at the Priyadarshini Park.

An expert in combining dance with physical theatre, Salmi uses his craft to make the audience experience open spaces that are otherwise considered obscure or not fit for formal performance. And hence, for his performance Revisiting Indian Spaces by Dance: Mumbai/Bombay, Salmi chose the park as it allows the audience to contemplate, breath, and feel the city. According to the choreographer, the park gave the performance a monumental dimension as the city never stops and offers constant flowing energy.

Talking about the park as his stage, Salmi says, “The park offers the proximity of the sea, trees, and vegetation and juxtaposes with concrete buildings and towers under construction. The performance offers a chance to take a deep breath in one of the most beautiful places in Mumbai and feel this energy through dance,” he says,

Organised by Alliance Française de Bombay in partnership with Institut Français, Région Grand Est, and Osmosis Cie, the performance was accompanied by a video projection, sound design and lighting as these elements are important to make the dance a part of the location, city, and the audience.

And for the dance form that involves free-flowing of heart, mind and body movement, Salmi took inspiration from the rhythmic patters of Dobhi Ghat. “Using a scenography inspired by the rhythmic movements of the dhobis, as they wash clothes, a set was created through sound installation and video-projection at the park. It offered the audience a new look at architecture and these ‘lived’ spaces. The city is alive, we are a part of it and it a part of us,” explains the choreographer.

The choreographer further elaborates that this style requires the audacity to change the established codes and norms of performance and choreography. Hence, the public space becomes a surface for choreographic writing. And the challenges then posed by the architectural environment bring forth the strength and endurance of the dancer.

Most importantly, Salmi was keen on sharing the process of performance with people, as result he kept both — the rehearsals and the final performance — in an open space and free for all. “It is important for us that the audience can see both the process and the resulting performance,” he smiles.

As a student of engineering and architecture who was drawn to dance at an early age, Salmi has combined his skill and craft to create an unconventional dance style and urges people to feel dance as a passion running through the blood. “An old adage says ‘Dance like nobody is watching’. Whereas, my dance style reverberates through my system and it fluidly merges with the spaces. Those who possess this flaming spirit need to understand it and be fanatical about it. People might feel controlled by the reactions a little early on, but ultimately it’s their zealous desire that can make or break their revolutionary aspirations. Dance your heart out if you feel like, for no one can take away what you feel inside,” he muses.

And, as someone who proudly calls himself a ‘choreographic surveyor of the public space’, Salmi takes his time to understand and feel the vibrations of the place. “I love to explore and understand how a space is structured and organised, what it stands for and how it breathes. I need time to move in and around the space, almost like studying the anthropology of the city and its spaces. This is the immersion of my senses, my body and not just my intellect,” he concludes.