KARACHI: According to a Sufi poet, love is the dancing cry of the soul. Even if one does not go with this thought, the art of dance does transport you in a world where love assumes prime significance and everything else takes a back seat. Music and rhythm buffs were treated to a variety of dance performances to celebrate International Dance Day on Friday evening at the Alliance Francaise.

Describing the importance of the event, renowned artiste Sheema Kermani, who organised the event with the French cultural centre, said International Dance Day had been celebrated since 1982 to bring people together and celebrate the art of dance.

The show was divided into parts, the first of which was to do with classical dance forms. Ms Kermani explained the origin and significance of each form which her team members performed. The artists that took part in the performances were Kaif Ghaznavi, Dawood Bhatti, Mohsin Khan, Sehrish, Mahmood, Zainab, Angeline, Laila and Sheema herself, who, in the last bit of the first segment, danced to the famous Makhdoom Mohiuddin poem ‘Aap ki yaad aati rahi’. The audience appreciated all of the artists’ efforts. Since the courtyard of the cultural centre is not a spacious one, special arrangements had been made for the attendees, most of whom had packed the courtyard, to view the show from the first floor of the building.

The second part of the celebration allowed the audience to get involved in the show a bit more jubilantly. It was about Sufi poetry set to music. It began with Mani Chao’s interpretation, choreographed by Mohsin Khan, of the famous ‘Jugni’ sung by Arif Lohar. The audience enjoyed it a lot. They clapped to the beat of the song and gave a generous round of applause when Chao finished his act. It was followed by a little piece based on Rabia Basri’s poetry, presenting a nice contrast to the preceding act. The Sufi portion of the show ended with Amir Khusrau’s famous ‘Rang’.

The third segment changed the mood and pace of the programme. It set the tone with a belly dance by Iram, after which a few folk dances took the event towards its climax. The folk sequence kicked off with a Sindhi dance, complemented by fisher-folk and Bengali dance numbers, and rounding it all off with an upbeat, foot-tapping bhangra.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016