Tara Pandeya
Dances of the Central Asian Silk Road
Photo credit: RJ Muna
The New York Times, dance review:
June 14th, 2010
"How many of us have ever seen Uighur dances before? This one — celebrating “The Dance of the Grapes” — was the program’s greatest revelation. It had just two performers, the musician Abbos Kosimov and the dancer Tara Catherine Pandeya......When Ms. Pandeya entered, wearing a yellow skirt and pantaloons and gold-colored shoes, she at once made the dance a matter of close musical responsiveness. First she matched his drum pulse with fast-traveling footwork, like a long trill. Next she built up virtuosity. She took alternate turns to right and left, fell swiftly to the floor in a sudden and spectacular backbend, and then, kneeling, began to brilliantly coordinate head (moving side to side) and hands. Every part of her body turned into dance display. She bent sideways as easily as backwards. In one passage, turning her back to the audience, she let her shoulders rapidly rise and fall, all in time with the drum"
~Alastair Macaulay, dance critic for the New York Times
June 14th, 2010
"How many of us have ever seen Uighur dances before? This one — celebrating “The Dance of the Grapes” — was the program’s greatest revelation. It had just two performers, the musician Abbos Kosimov and the dancer Tara Catherine Pandeya......When Ms. Pandeya entered, wearing a yellow skirt and pantaloons and gold-colored shoes, she at once made the dance a matter of close musical responsiveness. First she matched his drum pulse with fast-traveling footwork, like a long trill. Next she built up virtuosity. She took alternate turns to right and left, fell swiftly to the floor in a sudden and spectacular backbend, and then, kneeling, began to brilliantly coordinate head (moving side to side) and hands. Every part of her body turned into dance display. She bent sideways as easily as backwards. In one passage, turning her back to the audience, she let her shoulders rapidly rise and fall, all in time with the drum"
~Alastair Macaulay, dance critic for the New York Times
