`Contemporary dance offers greater freedom'
K.K. GOPALAKRISHNAN
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Canadian choreographer Richard Tremblay is working on interpreting the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece in the Kathakali format.
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CLASSIC TOUCH: Richard Tremblay
Choreography was his calling and in the 1970's Richard Tremblay immersed himself in choreographing theatre and writing several stage shows.
In search of fresh inspiration and to expand the prevailing form of theatre in the West, Richard expressed his concerns to Ibrahim Alkazi, the then Director of the National School of Drama, who advised him to look up Kathakali.
This search took him to Kerala Kalamandalam, in 1975, for training.
"I felt an urge to know more about Indian culture. I also wanted to learn more about the ancient art forms. Besides, there was a trend of Western theatre circles turning eastwards for inspiration.
"Living Theatre (United States), Grotowski's Poor Theatre (Poland) and Barba's Odin Theatre were some of the theatre groups that had turned to India and Asia for inspiration. At that time, I related to the New Theatre development, rather than to dance," he explains.
After his Kathakali training, Richard decided to create a fusion by portraying Greek tragedies through Kathakali. Richard created `The Anger of Achilles' or `The Iliad' (1988), a Kathakali masterwork revived by the Kerala Kalamandalam, in Mumbai (1991), and by his dance company, Danse Kalashas, in Singapore (2000). He depicted works like `Ulysses,' Homer's `Odyssey' and `The Iliad' in Kathakali.
He is now in Kerala, working on the adaptation of the `Golden Fleece' in Kathakali with the support of the Government of India and the India Studies programme for performing arts of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, Canada. He is also delivering a series of lectures on Kathakali and contemporary dance.
Towards choreography
"I gradually moved from choreographic theatre direction to choreography. The shift became obvious in 1986, when I was asked to choreograph a short piece within the framework of a contemporary opera by prominent Canadian composer Claude Vivier. Contemporary dance was implicit in my development. To a choreographer, contemporary dance offers greater freedom and more potential for creation.
"Contemporary dance, implying deconstruction of language, and with no reference to unity of time, action, and space, appears to be quite recent in Indian dance. In my opinion, Chandralekha is a pioneer in challenging the form.
"My assumption is that the Indian choreographer follows the same path: from classical to contemporary. The only difference most probably lies in the very definition of what is contemporary dance," explains Richards.
Richard learned acting when he was 18 years old. He started of as a trainee with an amateur theatre group.
His maiden theatre work came during the late 1960's while he was teaching. "I resigned from my teaching post in 1970 to concentrate on my first love, theatre. I became known for my direction of plays by Ionesco, Becket and Genet. I interwove them with elements of Greek Classical Tragedy. The plays were very physical."
Richard believes that when creating or working on a piece, one needs as much cultural outlook and knowledge as possible.
Drawn to Kathakali
Looking back on his experiences with Kathakali, Richard says: "I decided to get into Kathakali after I saw Kalamandalam Gopi performing Raudra Bhiman. He is such a committed artiste.
"On learning that Kathakali can be used to narrate epics, I decided to try theme transfer which led to the `The anger of Achilles,' my Kathakali version of Homer's Iliad."
A staunch believer in training for dancers, he feels that such as training is central in one's artistic build-up, as it wakes up a dancer's "dance intuitions."
"Kathakali has provided me with all of it, but I am not sure whether I could realise fully."
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