Mar 12 2026 to Mar 12 2026 7 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

There is a particular stillness produced at the meeting of two counter rotational movements -those which draw arcs around the body’s vertical axis.

It is a stillness that contains both beginning and end. Producing a circular time. A stillness of imperceptible oscillation, a place where contradiction is contained rather than dissolved. Stilling is an attempt to create a series of pathways, organising and re-organizing duality in
search of their edge.

10 dancers begin with short studies – as though proposing not only the alphabet, but the
choreographic rules as well. They continue to build upon this foundation with almost algebraic precision, producing a complex and dense vocabulary of contradictions. As the performers navigate the material, they are forced to be disjointed and inter-connected at the same time, inviting us to almost stop remaining witness to an unfolding spectacle, rather to be drawn into the interiority of the counter – a place of disquiet – STILLING.

Credits
Choreography: Padmini Chettur
Sound: Maarten Visser
Dancers: Aarabi Veeraraghavan, Anoushka Kurien, Madhushree Basu, Masoom Parmar, Pradeep Gupta, Priyakshi Agarwal, Ramya Shanmugam, Revati Shah, Sravanthi Vakkalanka, Tushti Aravind

This is part of the 7th Edition of Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards (PECDA). This is the first of three full length showcase performances in 2026 PECDA.

In collaboration with:

Performer

Padmini Chettur
Choreographer
Padmini Chettur began her contemporary dance career in 1990 as a member of the troupe of Chandralekha—the radical Bharatanatyam modernist choreographer, whose own opus dealt with a rigorous deconstruction of the form. Over the past two decades, Chettur has defined her own choreographic idiom—minimalist, abstract and formal—stripping movement down to an essential, anatomical investigation, prioritising a sense of tension over emotion. Since her solo work Beautiful thing 2 (2011), and in later works—Wall dancing (2013), Varnam (2016) — her work has been seen in visual art spaces like steirischer herbst (Graz), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (Cochin), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul), Jejak-Tabi (Jogja), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Archive (Berlin), hangar Bicocca (Milan) as her practice extended into film and durational works. Her most recent work ‘A slightly curving place’, premiered at Concrete (Dubai) and will be shown at EMPAC (New York) in November 2023.

Padmini embarks on the research and development of each new work with a set of precisely articulated choreographic concerns. Her approach to movement research is almost scientific in rigueur. From Wings and Masks (1993) till date, throughout her oeuvre there is a deliberate concern with constantly refining form. The development of this concern yields a stark yet rich aesthetic in her work that is far removed from any obvious Indian classical dance context—a path that had its seed in her exposure during working with Chandralekha. As both choreographer and performer, Padmini has forged an overarching creative approach that pulls focus to the form and movement of the body. Early on, in her journey as a dance-maker, she took a very conscious decision not to train formally abroad—a decision which points to her well-formed politics. Her work—highly abstract in nature—is rooted in the cultural fabric of the uniquely engaged dance community of Chennai.