Dance with Euro folk

Russian troupe to perform authentic Antre moves at a suburban mall, dance inspired from Brazilian Samba.

Samba, Flamenco, Cha cha cha, Tango, Salsa — these dance forms have been performed so often in India that they are now featured almost everywhere — from reality TV to dance classes.

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However, Growel’s Mall 101 at Kandivali is bringing the traditional folk performance called Antre to Mumbai today. This is an intricate dance where the dancers are dressed in elaborate outfits featuring massive headgear.

Says a Russian troupe member, Violetta Vyshnevska, who’s come all the way from Baltiysk, “This is our first performance in India. Antre is not frequently performed here because these dance forms are taught only in Europe and are passed on from one troupe to the other.”
Violetta mentions that the dancers need to be careful about the large headgear since it’s heavy and tends to make them conscious.
According to her, Antre is energetic and is inspired by the Brazilian Samba. Pointing out the basic difference, Violetta says, “Antre cannot be performed as a couple dance. It is a typical carnival dance with more traditional steps involved requiring agility and a
flexible body.”

Female dancers only Another difference that’s very obvious is that there are only female dancers that gyrate to its tunes. “It also requires a lot of dancing on the toes plus balancing the outfit that you wear. Overall, the perfect co-ordination of body and mind is required,” Violetta says.

The troupe is looking forward to their performance in Mumbai and sounds excited. Echoing the expectations of her team, Violetta adds, “We’ve heard that Indians highly appreciate dance and art and enjoy dancing too. We’ll make sure that at least some of them join us during our performance tonight. We might even try and learn some of their moves too.”