Stilling

Padmini Chettur’s approach to movement research is almost scientific in its rigour. Her work reflects a deliberate concern to refine form, far removed from any obvious Indian classical dance context. Her highly abstract work is rooted in the cultural fabric of Chennai’s dance community, which is particularly socially and politically committed.

“Left or right? Clockwise or anticlockwise? What does it mean to turn away from obvious oppositions and deal with contradictions? Using inherent contradiction as a productive, scathing, and lively function. The film Stilling is a choreographic conversation between 12 oscillations of fragmented movement. A seemingly robotic landscape of partially repetitive actions immediately draws attention to the spatial and temporal relationships between them. Harmonies and disharmonies, the individual and the collective. A palette of apparent chaos within which order slowly emerges. In an age of increasing disembodiment and at a time where the body itself is being replaced in our quest for perfection, Stilling is a reminder of the necessary imperfection of humanity, a non-dualistic landscape of seemingly irreconcilable movements, which can bring us to a moment of stillness. Not the sudden halt that signals the end, but a halt that signifies the possibility of a beginning.” (Padmini Chettur)