Ashley Lobo to take 'Passage to Bollywood' to Istanbul

Choreographer Ashley Lobo, along with his dance company Navdhara India Dance Theatre (NIDT), will travel to Istanbul in Turkey in July to perform at the 57th International Bursa Festival.

They will present Bollywood dance show "Passage to Bollywood", which consists of a varied mix of Bollywood songs.

Combining old and new philosophies of movement, NIDT brings modern Indian Bollywood onto the theatre stage. Dancers combine a strong Western dance technique with indigenous tools like ancient Indian dance, yoga, meditation and the like to create the feel of a Bollywood movie in a live setting.

Lobo, known to bring a cinematic feel to his stage productions, will be visiting Turkey for the third time and is excited.

"There are a lot of companies promoting Indian traditional dance overseas but none that represent modern India. Navdhara's aim is to help overseas audience connect with the more modern part of India. One that is contemporary, now and truly global," he said in a statement.

"I love Turkey and the people. Also love the food, history....I would like to tell all Turkish people to come and see 'A Passage to Bollywood' and taste a slice of India. It is a fiction story that is based on every village child's dream to go to the big city and become successful. The story could be a real-life story - it unfolds very differently though," he added.

NIDT will perform at Bursa Culture Park Open Air Theatre on July 4.

--IANS

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