India, Sept. 6 -- Can grief be danced? Can an orchestra make absence audible? Kathak exponent and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas is attempting both, taking off from the silence left by children caught in war. The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) begins somewhere else entirely, with strings, woodwind, brass and percussion - and in its midst will come Kathak, contemporary movement, poetry, sculpture and light.

The collaborative presentation - 'The Absence of PRESENCE (TAOP)' - with Mangaldas and the SOI, and commissioned by the NCPA, will be staged in the city next month.

Blending in

Over two decades of efforts by the SOI to prove a professional symphony orchestra can thrive in India, it has built a strong record of collaborations with I...