Discover Dance, Digging Deeper: SaMel Tanz

Company Member, Rajvi Dedhia, has written about her experience of the October 2022 edition of Discover Dance, with special guests Sam and Mel!

Rajvi’s experience

It was a truly captivating experience to watch SaMel Tanz perform their duet. They performed an excerpt from their work, "Enter the Avatar state - Water". They mentioned how the piece was inspired by the show "Avatar: The Last Airbender," and how fascinating it was to translate the movements from the show into a dance piece. Their work exemplified the exploration of new boundaries and fantasy in dance. I found the use of hand gestures to represent water was clever, and the beautiful flow of energy through their bodies was truly mesmerizing. One of the most striking aspects of their performance was the way they took us on a musical journey, with the soundscape creating the sensation of being underwater or splashed by waves.  

Later, the duo presented a simple phrase to which they added various elements on the spot. Their ability to incorporate various styles into the same phrase was impressive, and they were able to tell us a story through these movements. I was particularly taken with the use of Latin flair and grace in their body launguage. They also shared their film created during the pandemic. Their sassy, groovy, joyous and energizing performance felt like an antidote to the difficult times we've been through. 

Overall, Samantha and Melissa's performance was a true delight to watch. Their ability to fuse contemporary movements with street and Latin influences and connect with various communities was impressive, and their work has the power to transport and inspire audiences. 

“Their sassy, groovy, joyous and energizing performance felt like an antidote to the difficult times we’ve been through”

"SaMel Tanz was originally programmed for our 2020 season, and being able to present them to live and online audiences in 2022 was special.  It made me clock  how these two artists stayed conencted to each other during the pandemic and how their work was richer and deeper for the disruption.  Artists who work as collaboratively as Sam & Mel bring so much exciting synergy to the mix and watching them finish each others word or movement sentences is deeply satisfying.”

- Nova Bhattacharya 

“I had the special role of caring for Samantha’s new baby during her first presentation since having her, and it made me connect with this duo in such a special and supportive way. As a mom of 2 boys myself, it’s not often we feel supported in artistic rooms, and being able to do that for her was a deep privilege.  I wanted them to know, that we wanted to support and be their cheerleader.  The shared bond of motherhood was something that connected me to their work, and the same care was evident in the working relationship between Sam and Mel in their deep-rooted friendship.  Thanks to Balancing Acts’ Compassion fund, we were also able to provide a little extra support to showcase the talents of this dynamic duo, their current explorations and a glimpse into their exciting future plans”  

- Neena Jayarajan