More mime than dance
RUPA SRIKANTH
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The accent of Stree Spandan was on the narrative.
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PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR
WOMAN POWER: From Stree Spandan
Can-Stop, an outreach programme of the Sundaram Medical Foundation-Dr.Rangarajan Memorial Hospital, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with ‘Stree Spandan,’ a fund raising programme by well-known dancers Shovana Narayan, Gopika Varm
a and Sharon Lowen.
‘Stree Spandan’ was a tale of three strong women from the Mahabharata — Kunti, Draupadi and Gandhari — whose compelling stories never fail to provide a dramatic high on stage. The dancers representing the classical styles of Kathak, Mohiniattom and Odissi, knew this well. Their solos were based on contemporary texts that threw new light on the characters and their emotional upheavals. S. Janaki’s spirited oratory complimented the dance in this regard.
While the presentations were thought-provoking as emotional roller-coasters, ‘Stree Spandan’ lost its appeal as a dance show simply because of this. It was mime, mime and more mime, and any suggestion of the beautiful dance styles came only from the costume, music and the percussion instruments used in the recordings.
The mime too was disappointing. The accent was on the narrative, and telling such a long story in 20-25 minutes left no room for silence or reflection. It was a case of the dancers repeating the story that had already been narrated in full by Janaki. One expected more depth in the portrayal of the emotions that changed the course of many lives in the Epic.
Poetic explanation
Shovana’s Kunti in Kathak, presented through a poem ‘Vinati’ tuned by Pandit Jwala Prasad, had an interesting explanation for Kunti’s request for her sons to ‘share’ what has been brought; in this case, the woman Arjuna had wed. As a woman, she must have known she is asking a lot, but as a mother she wanted them to remain united ‘as a string of pearls’ in the face of an imminent war, says the poet. Good ideas… but the poor visualisation of clipped mime interspersed with short nritta bols did no favour for the dancer.
The texts were the best part of the performances. Draupadi’s role played by Gopika in Mohiniattom had a descriptive text, a soliloquy, penned and set to music by Kavalam Narayana Panicker in the Sopana style. An anguished Draupadi on the bloody battlefield speaks of the futility of war and questions her own thirst for revenge. This was a reasonably well-dramatised segment, but it did not rise beyond good role-play.
Sharon’s Gandhari, in Odissi, remained blindfolded for the first part of her presentation. The dancer’s mature abhinaya was effective despite her closed eyes but the prosaic dialogue based on the Hindi text, ‘Andha Yug’ by Dharamavir Bharati, reduced this effort to a dramatic enactment of Gandhari’s curse on Krishna and the Yadava clan.
‘Stree Spandan’ had more for the mythology enthusiast than for a dance lover.
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