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Dance like fire
Creative collaboration: Arun and Madhuvanthi. — Pic. by K.V. Srinivasan
MADHUVANTHI AND Arun are fired up about "Agni", the young couple's seventh dance production that will be premiered at the Bharat Kalachar on December 24. Talking about what kindled their curiosity to look beyond the light and heat of "Agni", they log on to their laptop which displays their research, resource material and the script. Smile the tech-savvy duo, "The dance ballet fuses tradition and technology. The music has been recorded digitally. But there are no special sound effects. The music consists only of vocals (Krishna Kumar and Saindavi), wind instruments (flute by Balasai) and percussion (Divakar Subramanian). Care has been taken to make it sound completely old-world."
"Agni" is the first in a series of music and dance presentations on Indian mythology that aims to probe beyond the obvious. "We wanted to begin with the elements of Nature. Agni or fire is generally associated only with homam and yagam. Most of us follow the rituals just as a means to reach the divine. Only the physicality remains," says Arun, who has scripted and directed the ballet. After studying filmmaking at the University of Southern California and doing theatre workshops in New York, he has been directing commercials, music videos and experimental films. "But it is exciting to do such classical productions. It gives you the opportunity to go back to your roots."
The grand-daughter of well-known educationist, Mrs. Y. G. Parthasarathy, Madhuvanthi began learning Bharatanatyam at a young age from Padma Subrahmanyam.
Talking about her latest work, she says, "We delved into the Vedas to know more about Agni. And believe me, our ancient texts are an ocean of information. For months, we went through several interpretations of the Rig Veda. Funnily enough, the Germans and the French have done major research on it. There are so many interesting stories about how agni originated. It is the energy in trees and plants and one that stimulates the seven chakras in the human body. Maybe that is what is the fire of love and hate. Depicting all these elements in a stage production is quite a task. After staging it in a few sabhas, "Agni" will travel to other cities and abroad."
Madhuvanthi's choreography shows influences of various classical dances, yoga and kalari. The costumes and stage design (Soundarya Rajnikanth) though not far removed from the conventional, lends a feel of Vedic times.
CHITRA SWAMINATHAN
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