Experience a bold take on Bollywood at ITEM, the new dance-theatre work coming to Metro Arts
When we think of Bollywood cinema, dramatic love stories, elaborate dance sequences, colourful costumes and musical numbers are among the characteristics that come to mind. ITEM, a new dance-theatre work from Brisbane’s Dance Masala Bollywood Dance Company, flips the script on the idealised storytelling tropes of the Bollywood genre and gives it a feminist twist. This one-of-a-kind show will take over the Metro Arts stage from August 17–19, bringing with it a culture-packed performance filled with high-energy Bollywood dancing, catchy music and hyper-rich projected graphics.
Potraying Bollywood as both a desirable lover and a problematic ex, ITEM is a love letter to the iconic institution as seen through the (side) eyes of Brisbane’s Dance Masala Bollywood Dance Company’s all-female Nakhre crew. This bold new take on Bollywood is inspired by personal letters, messages and interviews collecred from hundreds of women over the past three years, and explores how the media we consume can affect us, even subconsciously.
Directed by multi-faceted artist Lisa Fa’alafi, this vivid theatre-work both celebrates and reinvents the very idea of Bollywood, told through immersive theatrical storytelling, and a female-focused lens. “It’s both a love letter to Bollywood and some gentle feedback,” says Masala Dance director and creator of ITEM Andrea Lam. “ITEM is a new-wave feminist work, an empathetic disruption that promises a night of insane dancing and projection-rich immersive theatre, which will have you fall in love with Bollywood as both your romantic partner and your problematic ex.”
For more information and to secure your tickets skip on over to the Metro Arts website.
To find out more about what’s on in Brisbane, head to our Event Guide.
