Takademe

Robert Battle’s bravura work mixes humor and high-flying movement in a savvy deconstruction of Indian Kathak dance rhythms. Clear shapes and propulsive jumps mimic the vocalized syllables of Sheila Chandra's syncopated score.

For Battle, the work represents his modest beginnings as a dancemaker and reminds him of how far he’s come. He created Takademe when he was a dancer with the Parsons Dance Company, in a living room in Queens, New York. “Most dances have a lot to do with restrictions and problem-solving,” he explains. “One of the problems was that we didn’t have a lot of space, so the dance stays very stationary. But then when we finally got studio space […] the movement travels on a long diagonal. Freedom.”