Dancing, head-banging and santooring in Delhi

I love this big city. Tonight it dished up a heavy metal concert in aid of the environment (bogans for climate change?) and a stunning display of contemporary dance by young Indian choreographers.

I had wondered whether there was room for boundary-pushing forms of dance in a country with such a rich traditional dance heritage and ubiquitous bollywood. But there were no light bulb changing moves tonight. In their place, three contemporary dance pieces which hinted at tradition but were freed from it as well. The soundtracks were sparse, and for long periods silence was the only companion. The dancers were brilliant. Some detail on the performance is at www.gatidance.com.

And as for the metal concert, well that too spoke to an India moving way ahead of the world's perception of it. India, the cultural superpower is coming to a city near you.

Earlier in the week I went to a performance by Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, the legendary player of the Santoor, a folk instrument from Kashmir. Words can't describe how beautiful his music was, accompanied by tabla. And the rapturous applause from a large and surprisingly youthful audience spoke to the ongoing popularity of Indian classical music. But I think that nomenclature is somewhat misleading - it's more like jazz than western classical, free and dynamic and full of improvisation. Magic.