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Focus on mime

Photo: S. Thanthoni

Actions and reactions: Rasa Unmasked.

‘Rasa Unmasked,’ presented by Forum Art Gallery, Chennai, was in many ways a Pan Asian potpourri with a movement vocabulary inspired by Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi and Indonesian dances and a musical score based on Indian Carnatic and Indonesian Gamelan music. The production was a joint effort between two senior dancers from the Diaspora — Ramli Ibrahim from Malaysia and Anandavalli from Sydney, Australia. Together they explored the unmasking of the ‘Ideal Man’ by capturing his reactions or emotions when he comes into contact with Life.

The concept was presented as seamless modules for each of the nine rasas or sentiments. Hazily projected situations provided the context and mood music and lavish lighting did the rest. Though the varying emotions did come through with clarity, the production fell short of the usual visual feast one has come to expect from Ramli. Sensuous physicality and dynamic group choreography are the secrets of Ramli’s colourful shows but this time round, mood and mime took precedence over movement dynamics.

With their well-coordinated and well-toned students performing much of the time, the choreographers — Ramli and Anandavalli — kept their roles to the slower, mime parts. It was a pity because one did not get to see Ramli’s fit and wonderfully conditioned body dance. More the pity then that the mime did not work. While the songs (‘Asai mugam’ by Subramanya Bharati and ‘Main gulaam’ by Kabir) changed the entire character of the production from abstract to abhinaya, they also slowed down the pace. The mime on its own was unimpressive, obvious and contrived; and as a young couple engaged in flirtatious love play, the senior dancers looked incongruous.

Ramli’s portrayal of a valorous Rama was the only redeeming moment for him. The mime apart, the young dancers (Guna, January Low, Rathimalar, Navamani Krishnamoorthy, Abirami Srikhanta, Seran Sribalan) provided some beautiful visuals with their fluid yet controlled movements. They wore thin bells on their feet that provided a teasing rhythm in a predominantly rhythm-less soundscape.

The music by Alex Dea was a pleasant blend of Indonesian Gamelan and Carnatic music; this was a true fusion in which the two-stringed Rebab provided an anchor for a raga alapana and an Indonesian verse was sung to Adi talam. The mastery over the two systems of music was evident, and helping the composer on the dais in the live segments were Aruna Parthibhan (vocal) and Bala Sankar (tabla). The music was pan Indian with mridangam sollus reflected by the tabla.

Surprisingly the visual palette was devoid of colour — all costumes were in an ethereal off-white and gold, as was the stark set design that resembled the suspended vertebra of a mammoth reptile. It was the inspired mood lighting (Sivarajah Natarajan) that gave the production its larger-than-life feel.

With so many positives, ‘Rasa Unmasked’ would have made a better impression but for the experiments with mime.

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