To think of things that have been said about water — and the ways in which it holds a mirror to life — we are reminded of Canadian author and essayist Margaret Atwood’s words. In her novella, The Penelopiad, she describes water as a force that feels like a caress; it doesn’t resist, and flows on. She reminds the reader that a patient stream of water can weather a stone. And so, being half water, if we “can’t go through an obstacle,” we must “go around it”.

Will Apah, Malavika Sarukkai’s celebration of rivers, rains and mythical retellings, leave audiences with a corresponding lesson in compassion? She responds, “I can discuss that after I perform the piece. I haven’t performed this particular composition earlier and don’t know how viewers would react to it. However, while dancing through the sequence, I can feel something happening.” The Bharatanatyam dancer explains that water has been a thematic point in many of her choreographies. “In Apāh, some of these old movements will be presented alongside new ones.” Stressing on sequence and its synthesised impact, she adds that a performative art form in succession, holds quite a different meaning as one choreography leads to the other.