Art of a different kind
IT WAS not long ago when the idea came into being in conservative Chennai used as it was to traditional music and dance.
Inroads into the `new' and `other' met with stiff upper lip tolerance. But it was not long before, the city woke up to the possibilities of infusing other art forms into the spectrum of tradition and realised that the new forum has many charms.
And nothing is more symbolic of that than when the hall is almost full and there is a cross section of audiences waiting to see what the organisers of The Other Festival have for them each evening.
With The Park Hotels associating itself with The Other Festival, the event has become a much awaited one - an occasion when art and intellect interact and when each person goes back with something learned, something assimilated!
The seventh The Park-Other Festival opened on December 1 at the Chinmaya Heritage Centre, Harrington Road, with many more sponsors and with the same finesse and perfection that the artistic directors Anita Ratnam and Ranvir Shah have made their hallmark. Proper programme notes, listing of venues, events and people to contact are available without having to run around trying to figure out what is to happen when. The sound of the flute and tanpura heralded the entry of four dancers who form part of the Parijat Desai And Dancers from the US. Quiet/Fire, The Wall and Dances to Asian Electronics, constituted an amalgam of traditional idiom laced with the flavours of martial arts, yoga and free style.
Mylapore variations ... fusion of the Western and Indian. — Pic. by Vino John.
Though nothing was casual, the movements suggested a practised abandon that comes from hard work and intense coordination. Certain fluidity belied the precise hand and leg movements that seemed to slice through the air. The magnificent thing was the use of space within which the exploration of body and soul crossed many themes and ideas.
The Mahabharata, the story of a woman scorned and neglected, of rivers overflowing and of emotions that run their course through life.
The only thing that actually broke the mood and ambience created by Parijat and the other dancers (Cindy Chung, Aditi Dhruv, Shobhana Ram) were the short breaks.
Earlier part of the evening featured Mylapore Variations with Eero Hameenniemi and his ensemble comprising western and Indian artists. Eero is from Finland and has put together a group — Pensola (violin), Ruottinen (the cello) himself (harmonium), R. Ramesh (mridangam) and A. Durga Prasad (gottuvadyam). Eero Hameenniemi with his style of music that incorporates Carnatic rhythms into western harmony has collaborated with many Indian artists including Karaikudi R Mani, Daksha Seth, Mahesh Dattani, Shobhana Jeyasingh and Mallika Sarabhai. The evening saw a gentle representation of what he does with notes, melody and rhythm with the percussion and string instruments.
What's on
For those who do not want to miss the other programmes - December 3 features Gil Alon (Israel) solo theatre, Chitralekha Dance Company (the U.K.) The Story of C, a science and art dance production, Dec 4-Fujiwara Dance Inventions (Canada), Sumida River Contemporary Dance solo, Dec. 5-Constanza Macras and Dorky Park (Germany) contemporary dance, Dec 6-D'Lo (the U.S.-Srilanka) Ramble-ations, excerpts from the One D L show solo performance, KSR Aniruddha and Dancers- Spatika -Beyond Doubt and Illusion, Arjun Raina (New Delhi)- A Terrible Beauty Is Born, solo theatre. Dec 7 -Ramu Ramanathan (Mumbai) and Out Of Context, the Sanjivani Super Show, theatre. Apart from these there is the Experimental Film Package (Dec.3-7, 10 a.m.) at the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, where a series of short films, curated by Shai Heredia from Mumbai will be screened.
CHITRA MAHESH
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