Akshongay: Then and Now—Intercultural Artistic Duets and the Relational Practice of Collaboration

Abstract

This article reflects on the creation, evolution, and remounting of Akshongay (Bengali: একসঙ্গে, meaning “together”), a full-length duet that unites Bharatnatyam and Western concert dance, co-created by Toronto-based dance artists Nova Bhattacharya and Louis Laberge-Côté. Their collaboration, which began in 2000, has evolved into a decades-long creative partnership rooted in critical difference, trust, and sustained inquiry. Developed across geographic, cultural, and stylistic borders, Akshongay embodies the possibilities of intercultural duet-making within the broader context of Canadian diasporic performance. In what follows, the artists reflect on their collaborative process, the work’s layered emotional and aesthetic terrain, and the embodied experience of revisiting and remounting the piece over a decade after its premiere.