Lehmen's Gift for Dhaka

As someone who knows as little about dance as Miley Cyrus knows about keeping her clothes on, I'd been quite sceptical attending Thomas Lehmen's event, “A Piece for You”. Arriving at Goethe-Institut in Dhaka, on the 18th of December, the room was packed and the audience seated. The turnout had been so big that people had to actually share seats -- they did so gladly though, because the performance really was worth it.
The show began with a few words from the choreographer himself, Thomas Lehmen. Lehmen can be deemed as a German visionary who began making his way eastwards on his motorcycle, a while back. He believes in giving back “presents” to all the individuals and incidents that he has encountered on his journey. The aim behind “A Piece for You” was to give the city and all of its residents a reward of sorts in the form of performing art.
Lehmen explained that the objective behind his piece was to portray and illustrate the originality of dance forms. Each choreographed piece was a personalised 'gift'. Lehmen proceeded to tell the audience that the whole presentation was divided into three implications: an ode to someone near and dear, followed by an offering to someone famous or well-known like a celebrity or a politician, and lastly a gift for someone/thing that is fictional and non-existent. The dancers of 'Shadhona' group then took to the stage. What was very fascinating and equally absurd to some was that no music was playing in the background. The performers began clapping and a lot of them had been sitting amongst the audience too, thus taking the viewers by surprise. The group of dancers clapped, tapped -- creating beats -- and they ran, jumped and danced; making the audience a part of the piece as much as possible.

Minutes into the performance, amidst the claps, the artists carried microphones and narrated personal accounts, experiences, the back story and inspirations for their pieces; a sort of dedication. The inspiration for the dance pieces ranged from private dedications -- “To my mother for raising me”, “For my son who can't stop playing with his new toy car”, “An ode to my older sister going through divorce” -- to tributes for iconic personalities like Nelson Mandela and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Fictional characters were also involved when one of the dancers decided to pay homage to a 'fire lady'. The choreographer, Lehmen did not fail to incorporate humour into his pieces. The comical aspects included subtle shots at political figures, satires aimed towards celebrities (one dancer went on to 'twerk'), and even Shakib Khan wasn't spared. The dancers also treaded sensitive ground when highlighting topics such as acid survivors, single mothers struggling in life, and orphans.
The 45-minute show packed a punch. Lehmen made sure to point out the fact that this somewhat bizarre, yet, exclusive performance was sure to have given the audience a good memory to take home with them. In my opinion, as a viewer and newbie to the dance scene, the event was a definite success, and the performers really did an amazing job making the show relatable to all.

Source: Photo: Ridwan Adid Rupon