Poorna and Dayita draw from their individual and their shared histories in their upcoming performance

‘Citations: Three Dances’ is an evening of contemporary dance featuring two dancers — Dayita Nereyeth and Poorna Swami. It is a triple bill, which means, says Dayita, that it comprises three pieces that are not connected.

The three pieces are ‘Cartography’ with choreography, performance, and text by Poorna and original sound composition by Marcel Zaes; ‘Pants Becoming Kites’ with choreography by Ellen Oliver in collaboration with Dayita and original sound composition by Dylan Eldredge Fitzwater; and ‘Long time no see’ with choreography and performance by Dayita and Poorna and original sound composition by Dara Hankins.

“The first piece, which will be performed solo by Poorna, is an offering of a poem through movement. She will speak and move simultaneously throughout the piece,” explains Dayita.

“The second piece is my solo, which is inspired by the mundane daily transit or commute to work. When we were making the piece, Poorna and I were living in the United States. We were inspired by the transit — of waiting at the bus stop, riding the bus, seeing people on the bus, listening to their conversations. Now she lives in the United States and I live here. Our process combines the reality of her public space as well as mine.”

The third piece, a duet performed by both dancers, was inspired by the idea of a city.

“It draws from many different aspects of the city from chaos to brutality and magnetism — the cities are always growing and they are often cruel to their inhabitants, but there is a pull that draws people back. We have explored the idea of space, time, relationships among one another within this framework of the city. This is a movement piece with text in the middle.”

Each of these pieces were made separately, and the reason she and Poorna made the duet together, explains Dayita, was because they grew up together in Bengaluru, happened to go to the same college in the United States, and moved to India again in 2016.

“We had so much in common from school to college to Bengaluru and we had grown so much in New York. When we returned to Bengaluru, there was this sense of familiarity but also of alienation because so much had changed.”

‘Citations: Three Dances’ will be performed on March 3 at 6 30 pm and 9 pm at Meeraqi, 601, 1st Floor, 12th Main Road, HAL 2nd Stage, Indiranagar. For details, call 99727 99969. Tickets, priced at Rs 300, are on bookmyshow.com.