Rehearsed and premiered in the middle of a red stone quarry on the outskirts of Borotalpada tribal village, 220 km southwest of Calcutta, the piece stages the inhabitants, their presence, their body movements, the sounds of their daily activities, combining in a new way this rural India which has been described by poet Rabindranath Tagore and filmmaker Satyajit Ray, two immense artists who have so deeply detected the beauty and the strength of such an everyday life.
COOKING STONE dance-theatre
directed and filmed by Jean-Frédéric Chevallier • in collaboration with Sukla Bar and Dhananjoy Hansda • performed by Joba Hansda, Ramjit Hansda, Salkhan Hansda, Sukul Hansda, Surujmoni Hansda and Dhananjoy Hansda • video projection Jean-Frédéric Chevallier • music excerpts Johann Sebastian Bach, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine • team coordination Dhananjoy Hansda • technical crew Dulal Hansda, Jiten Hansda • construction of the scenography Dhananjoy Hansda, Jiten Hansda, Salkhan Hansda, Sukul Hansda • artistic inputs Friso Maecker, Ikue Nakagawa, Ruchama Noorda, Antonio Zúñiga • stills photography of the night performance and poster picture Juan Carlos Rodriguez • produced by Sukla Bar for Trimukhi Platform • co-production Danse Élargie 2020
First presented outdoor on March 7, 2020 during Night of Theatre n°12, COOKING STONE has been selected to be showcased indoor at Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, on Saturday June 13, 2020, during the 6th edition of Danse Elargie. But, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the journey to France, the show in Paris and the whole stage event in its live form were canceled. A video-dance version was instead released by Trimukhi Platform and showcased during the digital dance festival FOKUS TANZ # 7: DANCING SCREEN organised by Kampnagel Center for finer Arts in Hamburg, Germany, from February 27, 2021 to March 7, 2021. The video-dance was showcased again on September 10, and 11, 2021 at Théâtre de la Ville, Paris.
Born in 2008 in Borotalpada, a village near the border between Bengal and Orissa in India, Trimukhi Platform is dedicated to producing contemporary arts forms, building bridges between distant worlds and stimulating the invention of out-of-the-common thought. The collective brings together 18 families in this Santhal village (Santhal are a community of Adivasi, or “first inhabitants” – aborigines – of India) around theatre director and philosopher Jean-Frédéric Chevallier and art producer Sukla Bar.
