When we’re told city-based choreographer Avantika Bahl is assembling a dance troupe of ’60-plus dancers’, we’re naturally a tad concerned if there are any stages in the city that could accommodate that many performers. “That’s how unusual it is to hear of performers above the age of 60 taking a full stage performance head on,” she clarifies with a chuckle. “The performance was born out of the question, what happens when a dancer ages? Why do we stop seeing them on stage once they’re past their so-called ‘prime’?” the choreographer reveals.

After reaching out to senior performers whom she had seen in performance before, and urging them to rekindle their love for dance, Bahl finally had her dream team — the first eight who dared to take her up on it. The performers, including Odissi exponent Jhelum Paranjape, actor and dancer Faredoon Bhujwala, as well as dancer-performers Francis Cardoso, Manuella Cardoso, Saraswati Devdas, Sunila Ashok, Venkateswaran Akileswaran, and Venkatesh Iyer have been converging at an Andheri studio for the past nine months to rehearse their big presentation, Prime.