SEVEN female dancers walk on their knees. Heads down, their long hair covering their faces. They move slowly, rhythmically, towards a flower-strewn marital bed. A spear, a bowl, and a spittoon have been placed there.

A man sits cross-legged, his back to the audience, observing the mlaku dhodhok (crouching walk) sequence intently. His body is still. He looks, too, at a parasol of regalia standing upright in the background.

Then the dancers lie down