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A new Natya Shastra

PHOTOS: AVINASH PASRICHA

REACHING OUT Naresh Kumar as Lord Vishnu with Ashiq Ali as Matsya avatar

“Bring madam a wheelchair,” Guru Sallauddin Pasha directs his team members. The wheelchair appears and Pasha, having secured the brakes, offers it to you before introducing his multi-talented group of dancers, singers, actors and stagehands. They are only a select few of the 150 members of Ability Unlimited, Pasha’s company that prides itself on being “India’s first professional dance theatre by persons with disabilities.”

Pasha has made it his mission to make the world, starting with India — “a disabled unfriendly country” — aware of the talents and unlimited potential of the physically and mentally challenged. The group boasts some mega productions that have been performed across the world to rave reactions. These include “Ramayana on Wheels”, “Glimpses from The Bhagawad Gita”, “Martial Arts on Wheels” and “Durga” among others. Next is “Bharatanatyam on Wheels”, to be performed on July 13 at Kamani auditorium.

Sallauddin Pasha and Vijay Kumar demonstrate `Kuditti mettu' adavu done in the normal way and adapted to a wheelchair performer

Till now all his productions could be classified as dance theatre. But five years ago, he started training his students in Bharatanatyam, adapting its adavus (basic units of movement) to wheelchair use. Before that, says Pasha, he had to “heal them.” The healing was through music, dance movement, gestures and rhythm therapy. Apart from the therapeutic value of the introductory years, he notes, it was important for the students to develop a good sense of rhythm. Contact improvisation, support and trust exercises and general creativity are among the early lessons. This approach helps learners develop body awareness and discover their potential, says Pasha, a pharmacy graduate hailing from a family of doctors.

Using custom-made lightweight wheelchairs that balance on two wheels and in spinning, with hand rest and footrest removed, he has devised equivalents for a number of adavus of Bharatanatyam.

“Since they are sitting on the wheelchair, it is already a kind of aramandi,” explains Pasha referring to the basic leg stance of Bharatanatyam. “Taiyya Tai,” he counts the rhythm, and they strike the ground with the front wheels of the chairs in unison. “Tai Ya Tai Yi,” he directs, and they glide forward, then lift the wheels, coming down on the last syllable. The hands, meanwhile, perform the accompanying movements and mudras perfectly. Or, their hands go into the air creating a rainbow shape, while the wheelchair pirouettes. That is “Ta Tai Tai Ta” adavu. For “Tat Tai Tam” adavu that normally requires a leap, they give their wheels a good push forward, then create the hand patterns in the air, thus retaining the dynamism of the adavu.

Manish, Hemalata and Ashiq Ali in a choreographic formation

Not all the Ability Unlimited dancers have the use of both arms, while others are mentally challenged as well. But the smiles on their faces that range from serenity to sheer glee tell us these are no handicaps to dance.

Pasha, trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Thang Ta and yoga, and no mean dancer himself, does not dance in these productions. The double responsibility of production work and performing would be too much, but, he says, the happiness he gets when the audience applauds for his wheelchair bound and crutch-dependent dancers is greater than he might experience as a soloist.

Senior students who have graduated to assistant directors help teach at the classes running on different days of the week at the three branches of Ability Unlimited — in Vaishali, East Delhi and Greater Kailash-II. They also help conduct the outreach programmes in slums and schools. “They handle normal people,” notes the guru. “Recently we conducted a show for Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, with 600 kids.” He is proud of their multifarious abilities, handling administration, choreography, workshop direction, light and sound designing and operating, besides make-up and costume requirements, saying he is creating new employment opportunities for the disabled.

Natta adavu (`Taiyum Tatta') by Pasha and Manoj.

Whether changing costumes or unloading equipment for the show, says Pasha, they are self-sufficient. Recently his students provided the lighting for a show by Kathak dancer Rani Khanam, Pasha’s wife, who is Assistant Director, Ability Unlimited.

Pasha, who feels the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 ought to have been passed at the time of the creation of the country’s constitution, is also amazed at the callousness with which the old treatises on the theatre arts treat the concept of disability. But he knows that while “other performers just entertain the audience and leave,” what his company is doing now will bring about a change in society. And in the process, perhaps script a new Natya Shastra.

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