Forest takes us into the archetypal world of the forest, the jungle. Throughout the world, the forest is seen as a place of transformational magic. Heroes of the world's epics must pass through the forest in order to fully realize themselves. The forest is a world of elicit trysts, of confrontations between opposing forces. ANIKAI Dance takes you into this world at its roots, draws you into its branches, and sends you flying up through the canopy.
Forest is built on the structure of a classical Bharata Natyam performance, beginning with an invocation to ANIKAI's "god" of beginnings, of transformation and of the space between - the butterfly. We take you through the forest, through our alarippu of a single tree, jathiswaram of a grove of trees, our shabdam, and varnum, until we come to the sanctum sanctorum of the padam. Then, finally, in our tillana, we take you on a dizzying ride beginning at the forest floor and ending above the tree tops.
