The choreography graph
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Impresario India's recently concluded Festival of New Choreography brought into focus questions of definitions and concepts in the Indian classical dances, says ANJANA RAJAN.
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Photo: Sandeep Saxena.
Bimbavati and her group performing at the National Festival of New Choreography in New Delhi.
IMPRESARIO INDIA presented the Seventh National Festival of New Choreography at the India Habitat Centre this past week. At an overall level, the festival was a big success with average to excellent attendance. It was also pleasing to see the aesthetic costumes of the groups, with various combinations of earth colours and plenty of cotton. On the one hand, the festival showed how far the Indian classical dances have come since their reinstatement as showpieces of the culture of India as a sovereign nation. On the other, it was also clear that a lot of thought needs to go into such projects if we are to use terms such as new choreography with any degree of seriousness.
Organised over three evenings, each featuring a relatively young and a senior artiste, the festival included works by Yamini Reddy, Bimbavati Devi, Pallavi Krishnan, Justin McCarthy, Sharmila Biswas and Shovana Narayan.
Among the work of the youngsters, Bimbavati's presentation `Anubhavamah - We Feel', which primarily made use of elements of Manipuri and Thang Ta, stood out. Taking both movements and presentation style - like props, head gear and accessories - from these dance forms, she showed how it was possible to create a new statement that retained the authenticity of the tradition yet emanated the flavour of experimentation. Taking for a theme the `enemies' traditionally described as standing in the way of true happiness - lust, anger, greed, arrogance, jealousy and the like - she used dramatic lighting and imaginative formations to depict stories including Shoorpanakha's infatuation for Ram, Midas' greed that led to his destruction, and Ashoka's arrogance that caused untold sorrow. The Kathak used in the Midas segment did not seem to add much, since the characteristic movements of this dance style were missing and therefore did not provide a contrasting element. The `moral of the story' tone that came at the end of each segment could have been avoided.
East and West
The festival opened with Yamini Reddy's presentations in Kuchipudi. This talented solo dancer, the daughter and disciple of Raja and Radha Reddy, tried her hand at mixing Western music with completely traditional Kuchipudi movements. This she did by dancing to the recorded track of the famous Beatles song "My Sweet Lord", in a tribute to the late George Harrison. The piece was prefixed by a Sanskrit shloka sung by Sai Bhavani and danced solo by Yamini before being joined by a group. The combination of the shloka and song led to the somewhat curious announcement that the music for the piece was composed "by George Harrison and Sai Bhavani".
Other items included a depiction of the nagapatnis, the wives of Kaliya the poisonous serpent; and President APJ Abdul Kalam's poem, "Bless my Nation". The presentation combined taped music and a live orchestra, seated in the normal position on stage. With Raja Reddy as the sutradhar, the group comprised Sai Bhavani (vocal), Bhaskara Rao (mridangam), Ajay Prasanna (flute) and VSK Annadurai (violin). It might have been a better idea to keep the whole programme in one format instead of alternating between live and recorded music, especially as at times the orchestra was reduced to listening to itself on tape.
Directors only
Shovana Narayan and Justin McCarthy were the only choreographers who refrained from dancing in their own productions. While in itself this is not a requirement of a good director, it helps to maintain uniformity in the group. Eminent Kathak dancer Shovana presented the theme of colours and moods of life, `Rangakaar'. Beginning with the mood of sun worship, the dancers' staggered entries were effective, each dancer coming with a flourish and ending in either a dramatic or meditative sam, using yogic postures. The atmosphere brightened up as the stress on virtuosity and speed increased.
Justin McCarthy's offering in Bharatanatyam consisted of Acts I and III of Kalidasa's Abhignana Shakuntalam. The stress on pure Sanskrit, the choreographer himself reciting while conducting, was impressive, and the production was pervaded by a languid atmosphere appropriate for an ashram setting as also for the depiction of shringar rasa.
However, there was an unrelenting sameness of pace which might have benefited by some variation. This applied to the dance movements, the music and recitation alike. Odissi exponent Sharmila Biswas of Kolkata presented a series of pieces, of which `Krishna Janma Katha' was worth writing home about. It made imaginative use of the elements of Odissi and folk forms, and gave a visual dimension to the magic created by the traditional narrators of the Bhagavat, who were part of the inspiration for Sharmila's choreography. While the traditional storyteller uses histrionic skills to portray several characters, moods and situations at the same time, she used three narrators and two characters (Devaki and Vasudev) and with brisk tableau changes, abstract and interpretational dance, gave a multi-dimensional feel to the presentation. This was an example of a traditional, indeed an oft repeated theme, handled with an approach that justified its inclusion in a festival of new choreography.
What's new?
Many of the presentations on all the three days were perfectly good performances but somehow did not seem to merit a place in a festival of `new choreography'. They seemed not much different from what one might have found in ordinary recitals by soloists or groups. Sharmila's solo depiction of the shloka in which Yashoda tells the story of the Ramayan to Krishna, while beautifully executed, fell into this category, but it was by no means the only one. While watching the festival one felt it was necessary, perhaps, to differentiate between new choreography using the Indian classical dance forms, and new compositions within each form. All the choreographers, senior and junior, seemed to struggle with groups whose members did not have a uniform level of training or skills. This makes one wonder why it is necessary for dancers to rely only on their own students - who may or may not be up to calibre - when they want to try out their choreographic creativity. This resulted in some of the presentations looking like the annual shows put up by dance schools. Also, it is time classical dancers accepted that all dancers need not be good choreographers, and all good choreographers need not be good performers.
Bijon Mukherjee of Impresario India no doubt deserves praise for his unflagging zeal in bringing musicians and dancers of various genres from outside the Capital to perform here.
The very idea of an annual festival of new choreography was an excellent one when he initiated it. However, like all good ideas, it has to grow, and now that the event is well entrenched in the cultural calendar of the Capital, it is time to reflect on both the theoretical and practical aspects.
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