HAPPY ON THE FEET

N the midst of daily chaos, our bodies have a way of telling us what our minds have buried deep.

- SRESTHA SARKAR

Behind the scenes from Vishal Telang's dance-movement workshop

Imagine a sudden panic attack in the middle of dinner or restlessness in a happy workplace — it’s not sudden, just the body responding to long-suppressed trauma. Vishal Telang’s dance-movement workshop, ‘Emotion in Motion’, conducted in Saket last week, shows how a reconnection with the body can release bottled-up emotions through movement.

Telang has a degree in Modern and Contemporary Dance from New York City’s Peridance Center. He has also trained in theatre and drama in Mumbai. From training actors from the Hindi film industry to doing workshops with students of psychology from Delhi University, he has held classes pan-India and has spent almost 25 years developing a specialised movement technique — not a word he likes — rooted in expressive and somatic practices.

Technique is, indeed, not the core of Telang’s workshops. It’s not about a fixed choreography or training to be a dancer but about the art of letting the body flow to express emotions. He essentially uses two different methods — somatic movements, which are how the movement feels, and intentional movements, which use the idea of metaphors, imagery and personal memories; breathing exercises are an important part of his sessions.