Raina weaves magic
ROMESH CHANDER
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In "The Magic Hour", presented by the Black Bakkhai Collective, Arjun Raina contextualises the traditional dance theatre in a precise, effective and powerful way.
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WELL-EXPRESSED A scene from the dance-drama "The magic Hour".
In the last few days of National School of Drama's just-concluded Bharat Rang Mahotsav we had yet another presentation in the dance-drama category titled "The Magic Hour" presented by the Black Bakkhai Collective, Delhi. It was directed and designed by Arjun Raina. Dance theatre, at least in India, is not new. It is at the root of the Indian performative expression and is not a new phenomenon. From Mudiyettu to Kudiattam to Tamasha or to any form of trance possession, the dancer and the dance is an integral part of the process of transformation and its expression and this is exactly what is revived and brought into the forefront in Arjun Raina's "Magic Hour".
Powerful way
What Raina has been able to achieve is to contextualise the traditional dance theatre in a precise, effective and powerful way. For instance, it is not important that Othello is being danced in Kathakali form but that he is using the skills of a Kathakali dancer to express emotions of a maddened Othello. It is this ability to dance human emotions and feel that is at the roots of Indian Dance Theatre. Raina has been doing it right from the beginning for the last 10-12 years. And his search for emotional wholeness and its effective expression changes from scene to scene in "The Magic Hour". One wishes Arjun Raina was at the seminar on "Theatre: Marketing/Remarking Traditions" to make his valuable contribution of his approach to contemporary dance theatre.
Good idea
As we move along we have Desdemona (Magic Singh) dancing for a black Othello and Odissi dancer dancing for a black Jagannath. A good idea indeed particularly when she has the youthful power and strength as a dancer that suits Desdemona's character perfectly. Desdemona's dance is followed by Iago's dance of hate that Raina performs himself with disgust as the central emotion on his face. He grunts and makes animal sound traditionally used to project the evil within the character. The sound and the steps that Raina projects make a very effective Iago. We next meet Peter Pillai a split personality who is half British and half Indian. He gives a very delightful lecture demonstration of the nine bhavas which are at the core of traditional dance theatre. The Othello death sequence follows with its powerful drumming keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. But then Raina stops the show and says, "We are not doing this kind of murder mystery in modern India. For me Othello is not a naive blackman as Shakespeare had depicted him. Nor is he brutal for not letting Desdemona say even a last prayer before killing her. In Shakespeare's Othello, lago survives while Othello dies and so does Desdemona and this is primarily because in Shakespeare's theatre he dare not show a white man being killed."
Arjun Raina contextualises his performance in today's world with a video documentation of a battle scene where for the first time a white lago is killed - this brings to completion yet another theme of the play - The "Muslim Othello" warring with the Christian Iago.
"The Magic Hour" achieved the joy and rasa, the promise of a successful Indian Dance Theatre performance.
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