Synopsis
Noor is a neurodivergent young man who lives closely intertwined with his father, a contemporary dancer. Together they navigate daily routines, memories, anxieties, humour and the small rituals that shape their world.
As Noor grows older, his father begins preparing him for a future where he may have to live more independently. While Noor grapples with the absence of his mother and a world that often struggles to understand him, he slowly begins to confront questions of identity, adulthood and letting go.
At the same time, the father, increasingly aware of his own mortality, is haunted by one question: what will happen to his son after he is gone?
Moving fluidly between memory and the present, Dancing With Dad follows the evolving relationship between father and son through theatre, movement, live music and projection, unfolding through Noor’s perspective.
Director’s Note
Dancing With Dad emerged from a desire to explore a relationship that could not be articulated through words alone — a father and son navigating love, dependence, memory and change through movement, sound and silence.
Rather than approaching the work through realism, I was interested in creating a sensory and emotional world that moves fluidly between memory, imagination and lived experience. The process became less about representing Noor from the outside and more about attempting to enter his rhythm, his logic and the way he experiences connection, rhythm, repetition and sensory detail.
The multidisciplinary form emerged organically from this search. Theatre alone did not feel enough. Movement, live music and projection became essential languages within the performance — not decorative elements, but extensions of Noor’s inner world. The challenge was to create a piece that could hold vulnerability, humour and emotional complexity without reducing the characters to symbols or explanations.
At its heart, Dancing With Dad explores the quiet fear that exists within love — the fear of absence, of letting go, and of preparing someone you care for to continue without you. Ultimately, the work invites audiences to inhabit Noor’s world rather than observe it from a distance.
Cast & Crew
performed by DILNAZ IRANI & SANJAY SONU
written & directed by MANEESH VERMA
associate director & lights Vishal | production manager MONIKA GUPTA | scenography MANEESH VERMA | scenography consultant DHANENDRA KAWADE | sound Sahil Vaid | music producer KAIZAD GHERDA | theme song lyrics & music ASIF ALI BEG | theme song singer SHAZNEEN ARETHNA | produced by COLLECTIVE MADNESS STUDIOS
special thanks KALYANI HIWALE, HARSH KHURANA, TUSHAR PANDEY
inspired from “Umbrella” written by LARRY PONTIUS | commissioned by SERENDIPITY ARTS FESTIVAL 2023
