The city saw a one of its kind event this weekend that dared to step away from the tried and tested cultural events. Hyderabad Shuffle, which yoked together Jazz music and contemporary dance, held a lot of promise.

Hyderabad Shuffle’s aim was to provide a platform to performers with an edge. “Usually we see newbies opening for established performers. But in Hyderabad Shuffle, we reversed it to give more emphasis to the newcomers,” said Rumana Sinha Sehgal, the producer. Rumana, a techie, got into events first through her son’s school programmes. As she gradually started attending more events, what struck her was the cultural scene in Hyderabad was monotonous. She was disheartened.

“We need to break the stereotypes of how Hyderabad just fosters classical artistes. We also need to create awareness to break the image that Hyderabad lags behind Bengaluru and Mumbai in terms of young experimental artforms,” she added.

The idea behind Hyderabad Shuffle was to provide support to newer forms. “In Hyderabad, there is an audience, but venues are lacking. There are right people if you want to put across a show like this,” Rumana pointed out. Rumana now plans to take Hyderabad Shuffle to other cities while retaining the same name. This means that there would be a Hyderabad Shuffle across India featuring different art forms with new talent. “I would love to take Hyderabad Shuffle to the popular Kala Ghoda festival in Mumbai,” she enthused while speaking about future plans.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Tabloid> Potpurri / by Samyuktha K. / May 21st, 2012