The weeklong Downtown Dance Festival closed Friday in downtown New York with its annual “Erasing Borders†program of Indian dance, Alastair Macaulay wrote in The New York Times. Despite the Indo-American label, the organizers included countries other than India and the United States, he wrote.
“So you had to laugh on Friday,†Mr. Macaulay wrote, “not only did the 90-minute concert begin and end with several chunks of Bollywood dance, but it was also Bollywood by way of Russia.â€
The Russian dancers of the Mayuri Dance Group from Petrozavodsk were big hits, he wrote. “The dancing, often with lip-syncing and flashing eyes, had all of Bollywood's engaging vivacity.â€
In a final bhangra number, “Jatt Ho Gaya Sharabi,†three male roles were so well played and the performers so convincingly bearded that few in the audience realized that the dancers were women (whom we'd seen dancing as such earlier). The most breathtaking item was “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu,†a long and energetic solo danced by Natalia Fridman to a 1950s song (recorded by Geeta Dutt) of very bubbly Indian rock 'n' roll. You could tie yourself in knots over the politically incorrect ethnology here. The words “Chin Chin Chu†may have been based on the 1916 London hit show “Chu Chin Chow,†a vision of Chinese Orientalism now coming back to us via India via Russia. Ms. Fridman's unflagging brio was cause for delight.
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