Like Fireworks: When Masters of Tap and Kathak Meet

In "Speak," American tap artists Michelle Dorrance and Dormeshia join kathak dancers Rachna Nivas and Rukhmani Mehta for a new collaboration that explores how two percussive dance traditions can converse. The piece, part of the daylong festival "What Flows Between Us" curated by Nivas, culminates at 92NY on Feb.

21 and is presented within the organization’s "Women Move the World" series; all the leading artists are women. The show pairs a jazz trio with classical Hindustani musicians. There are solos in each idiom, but the kathak dancers jam with the jazz players and the tap artists trade rhythms with the tabla; by the finale, everyone joins the musical conversation.

Nivas has been clear: "It’s not fusion." As she put it, the meeting of deeply rooted, disciplined practices can be "like fireworks." Both sides describe the collaboration as a rigorous learning process. Dorrance called it an "insane" but pleasurable challenge to enter a kathak meter of 9 ½ beats; tap work usually orients to threes, fours or fives.

United States, New York

michelle dorrance, dormeshia, rachna nivas, rukhmani mehta, tap dance, kathak, tabla, 92ny, jazz trio, hindustani music