I walked into Steppingstone for the first time to see Love You Zindagi. It was a chilly night and walking in to see such great smiling faces at the brightly decorated ticket table, hearing the lively pre-show music - well, it warmed me up right away. If you have never been to the theater, it is a wide auditorium with long rows of seats...yet lots of leg room so it is easy for people to walk through. The stage is also wide and looked fairly deep. It was bare with a scrim at the back which was accented with lights throughout the show. I walked in knowing nothing about what to expect, except some Bollywood style dancing, and music. I have seen a few Bollywood films and they never fail to put a smile on my face. The music and singing is so full of passion and life (even the sad/dramatic/comic songs), and I love how the musical numbers seem to show up sometimes out of the blue. It feels at times like the film director states "well, we had 15 minutes of dialogue, lets get a song in here." That may drive some folks crazy but I love it.Love You Zindagi was similar to an extent. It opens with a dance that you find out takes place at a graduation ceremony. Aisha has finished school and is ready to move on to the next phase of her life. In a traditional way, she is set up into an arranged marriage...though she skypes and talks to Syed before marrying him. They move to Minneapolis where Syed works and Aisha has to face the challenges of a new culture, a new relationship, as well as dealing with her depression (which she has kept a secret from Syed due to cultural stigmas). The play deals with her searching for help, as well as her building relationships with her husband and new friends. The writing by Varghese Alexander (who also plays Syed) is very good. The feel of the writing, and the acting was good community theater/fringe making it a very good night out.
What makes the night even better, are the songs and dances. The show is 90 minutes long with a samosa/chai break in the middle. Despite that, there are 10 songs/dances which is perfect. Sometimes the song/dance comes naturally out of the scene and seems to comment on the scene. Other times it is just a joyous number. There were a few numbers that really stood out for me. The first was towards the end of Act One. The song is "Kyun Main Jagoon" and it was a solo dance for Aisha (Madhulika Srikanth). It involved a shadow dancing behind a scrim and it was lovely. It got directly into the heart of the story and the character and was perfect.
With a diverse cast of over 65 performers, most of the numbers were big group dances. However each dance had a different combination of dancers, and some different styles as well. The first number of Act Two had an Irish tap aspect, while the number after that had a Flamenco feel. There was great variety in the dances, and the music. It made for a thrilling evening...and the closing number? wow. Things I never thought I would see in a Bollywood film, I was seeing on stage. It was fantastic. And I haven't even touched on the incredible costumes for these numbers. They are worth the admission price alone.There are a few small things that I would like to see in future productions. First would be a small language guide in the program. The word "Zindagi" is used often throughout the show - mainly as part of an Indian saying (at least I am assuming that), and it would have been nice to know what the word meant during the show. Yes, I was able to ask/google it after so it is a small thing. The other would be the lyrics to the songs. I got the sense that sometimes the lyrics were helping set the scene/tone of the dance, providing more emotional support beyond the music and movement. It would be brilliant to have the translation on the back scrim (though I can see how that may end up being distracting). Hmmm... Honestly, for this show the song selection and choreography was so good that I got the jist of what was happening without the lyrics so maybe that isn't an issue. If you go, I would be curious to hear your thoughts.
Speaking of choreography, while quite a few of the numbers were partially choreographed by Divya Maiya, each number had at least two choreographers if not more. All of them were fantastic. The dancers were all fantastic, and quite simply - the whole evening was fantastic. Do yourself a favor and go see this show. It plays a few more times. If you can't make it, there is also a Body Positive Fashion Show named Bolly to the Max, as well as an Improvised Comedy Show named Bollyprov as part of MinneUtsav. Locations, dates, and times vary to check the website and get your tickets now. As for me, I look forward to the next production by Bollywood Dance Scene, and maybe I will even take some classes. Perhaps I will see you there?
note: there are some fantastic photos from the production on the Facebook Event. They are all by Arun Photography.
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