May 3, 2010 Review by Susan Capestro

Every once in a while, a musical performance is so perfectly in sync with the philosophy of Integral Teaching, blogging about it seems mandatory. It happened last fall, after Paco Peña's flamenco concert at the Berklee Performance Center, and again this past weekend, when Pandit Chitresh Das (b.1944) and Jason Samuels Smith (b.1980) performed India Jazz Suites: Kathak Meets Tap, at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. In my studio, we enjoy using syllables from India like ta, ka, di, mi, for practicing rhythms in all kinds of music, so Pt. Das and Smith's artful blending of tap dance and Kathak dance of northern India was a special treat. Never before have so much intricate and sophisticated mathematics been so entertaining!

A jazz trio (Theo Hill, piano, Sameer Gupta, drums, Aaron James, bass) performed the opening number from their stage position at house right. Enter Jason Samuels Smith, friendly, casual, unassuming, inviting the audience to give feedback during the show, positive or negative. During his first "a cappella" solo and ensuing spectrum of jazz, funk and hip-hop ensemble numbers with the band, it was easy to oblige. His shoes took on multiple personalities, scraping the floor like a turntablist scratches a record, sliding in unison with the upright bass' bent pitches, and "trading fours" with the band like an instrumentalist. At one point, this tall, powerful Smith shared the secret of one of the meters with us, something like "half 1,2,3,4,5, half 1,2,3, half 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, etc." ...No wonder I couldn't figure it out! Smith's insightful rapping, range of expressive shoe dynamics, articulations both smooth and staccato, and "duets" with the fabulous trio were all spectacular and jaw-dropping. Smith told the story of how he met Das at the ADF's Festival of the Feet. Then the stage transformed...

Exit Smith and the jazz threesome, enter tabla (Abhijit Banerjee), sitar (Jayanta Banerjee) and vocalist/harmonium player (Debasish Sarkar). After quietly tuning from their places lining the left side of the stage, they presented a short raga, then segued into a vocal, during which Pt. Das made his entrance. His tantalizing traditional Kathak solo began with an invocation dance to acknowledge greater forces. Subtle hand gestures, or mudras, and quick eye movements, all used during a focusing section, were akin to those of Balinese dances. Why, Das seemed to simply vibrate at times! A dancer and tabla interchange reminded me of our dancer and djembe duets when I studied African dance. Das captivated, hypnotized and thoroughly entertained us, often singing syllables as he danced. Fortunately, he let us in on what the meter was, at one point, something like, "a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, a 1,2,3,4,5,6, a 1,2,3,4,5, a 1,2,3, etc." ...Hmm...that sounded a bit like Smith's, during the first section. Pt. Das told us a story, first turning in one direction, then another, playing two very animated characters, which was hilariously funny. Singing, dancing and playing tabla all at the same time, he demonstrated Kathak Yoga, a way to unify the mind, body and soul. It is amazing, the timbres Das can achieve with his feet, not even wearing taps!

We in the audience, completely blown away and amazed, could not imagine what might possibly happen next. "How entertained is it possible to be?," I wondered, just as Smith popped out on stage again, to begin rapping with Das' tabla and ever bell-adorned feet. Jeez! This was really great. Smith put down his mic and began to tap. Unlike the Beethoven and Steibelt improvisation standoff of yesteryear, Das and Smith exhibited a great positive spirit and conviviality as they tried to challenge each other! I was thrilled to hear Das recite the syllables of an "odd" meter: ta ka ti ta ka di mi, etc., before he left the stage. Now...can you imagine a tap dance and sitar duet, even a call and response between Smith's tap and Banerjee's tabla? The tabla's scoops and the dancer's swooping scrapes across the floor made for a fantastic dialog. Of course it worked perfectly! Have you ever taught rhythmic "playbacks" with your students? Imagine that on steroids. They caught each others' sophisticated subdivisions and precise accents with such mastery, it was like speaking a language, only better. These performers eventually fit so many notes into one pulse, it became a fluttering mass of sound.

There was more. The three Indian musicians plus the jazz trio, now all on stage, joined in on the collaborative fun. A piano/harmonium interaction was followed by a sitar/bass moment, and Das entered, swooping, swirling. Talk about dance that actually goes with the music! This was it, in spades. Smith was back on stage again. Both dancers soloed, while the band filled with V - I vamps. Even more noticeable now, Smith was taking on Das' variety of facial expressions. The performance completely gelled! It was a pure ensemble happening, with the two dancers dancing (actually playing, as they were always heard as an integral part of the music), the two music ensembles playing (really, they were dancing on their instruments), and the audience not being able to help itself, often breaking out into spontaneous rhythmic clapping. They traded 8's, 4's, 2's. Fully integrated, each dancer dictated what each band then repeated back. Everyone was so totally listening, grooving, completely involved. We were all of the same blissful consciousness, it seemed. I haven't had this much fun being in an audience, ever. These artists, who are building bridges between cultures and generations, performers and audiences, and who are discovering wonderful things about humans and the art of music and dance in the process, are things you cannot put a price on. If you ever have a chance to see Das and Smith, go!