by Pandurang
17 June, Wednesday | 6:30 pm | Shreeram Lagoo Rang Avkash, Pune
Body Oddy
Emerging from lived and witnessed experiences, this work is a protest against gender-based abuse, violence, and societal judgements rooted in patriarchal ideologies and binary gender norms, encouraging bodily autonomy.
Repetition is a defining trait of violence. Perpetrators continually adapt their tools and tactics; it wears new faces in each era, making it a subject of constant re-examination. The work inquires: who controls the narrative of our bodies? Where does consent exist or collapse, in private and public? Who truly has the access, tools, and strength to exercise it? And how do bodies carry, resist, or rewrite these imprints? How can we build and exercise resilience?
The choreography is developed through embodied movement phrases and elements of waacking/posing as a grammar. Shortlisted as a top 5 finalist at the PECDA Awards 2026 in Bangalore, this work was developed at the Art of Improvisation Residency by InContact, Goa (2024) and the Unrehearsed Artists Residency by Nava Dance Theatre, San Francisco, USA (2025).
Content Notes:
Simulated sexual violence on-stage, Simulated physical violence on-stage, References to sexual violence themes, References to structural violence themes (casteism/racism/transphobia/homophobia/communalism etc), References to suicide/self-harm, Partial nudity on-stage
Credits
Choreography and Performance:
Dramaturgy:
Light Design:
Pandurang Sagbhor (he/him)
Vikram Iyengar (he/him)
Niranjan Gokhale (he/him)
Choreographer’s Note
This work was developed solely to celebrate queerness and disrupt the idea of binary gender. It embodies queerness in all possible, visible and invisible aspects. The choreographic choice of waacking/posing is a reminder of early queer pride history — an embodied movement vocabulary that expresses tension, resistance, and resilience while claiming one’s space with full dignity.
The work celebrates queerness unapologetically, yet without forgetting the journey of enduring systematic suppression and shapeshifting. It refuses interruptions and everyday impositions, extrapolating the in-between space gracefully and sensually. It says a strong NO to the non-consensual weight of social performance to please the patriarchal mindset, chooses instead to enjoy the utmost joy of simply being.
Director’s Bio
Pandurang Sagbhor is an independent dance artist and architect based between Maharashtra and Goa, holding a Bachelor of Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. His practice spans contemporary dance, contact improvisation, modern jazz, ballet, physical theatre, waacking, ballroom, Pilates, and Ashtanga yoga, trained across New Delhi, Goa, and Bangalore. With a particular focus on “decolonizing the body,” his work investigates power, identity, agency, and violence through artistic research addressing interpersonal, community, and environmental concerns. He seeks a collaborative intersection between contemporary and locally rooted movement practices, informed by his architectural lens. His solo work Body Oddy was shortlisted among the top five finalists at the Prakriti Excellence Awards in Contemporary Dance 2026. He has been artist-in-residence at the Unrehearsed Artists Residency by Nava Dance Theatre, USA (2025), and Body Space Time Residency by Gati Dance Forum, Delhi (2018).