In the 1950s, a certain generation of dancers and scholars painstakingly reconstructed dance forms across the country. Their work would go on to define the culture of a newly independent India. There were several concerted movements in regional pockets, with groups of artists researching and advocating for the classicisation of temple and secular dance practices. These artists taught for several decades after, often continuing to structure and mould their respective dance styles over the course of their long careers. For the generations that followed them, the tenets of classical dance have seemed more established and unshakeable, regulating the speed with which new ideas and possibilities are introduced into these forms. The NCPA’s Pravaha: From Experiences to Creations places an emphasis on such possibilities within the frameworks of traditional dance.
The festival showcases three works over two days. Mumbai-based Mohiniattam dancer Mandakini Trivedi performs Divya Dampati, a piece that explores the relationship between Shiva and Parvati through vignettes from their lives. Indrayanee Mukherjee and Akhila Nair, both disciples of the Kathak dancer Uma Dogra, perform Gantavya, a set of three pieces choreographed by Dogra. The finale of the festival is Jwala , a performance by Bharatanatyam dancer Mythili Prakash, looking at metaphors that emerge from the idea of fire and flame.
For all the artists at Pravaha , the idea of uncovering new dimensions in tradition seems hugely motivating. “Artists are approaching Kathak in ways that are contemporary yet simultaneously lead back to tradition,” said Mukherjee, speaking of her preoccupation with the form. With her fellow dancer, Mukherjee performs an invocation to the five cosmic elements, a pure dance piece set to a 15-beat cycle, and the Gita Govinda ashtapadi, sakhi he kesimathanamudaram. In Dogra’s interpretation of the ashtapadi, Mukherjee explained, there is an emphasis on the feeling and emotion experienced by the dancer, which is then conveyed to the audience. Narratively, in the ashtapadi, Radha recounts her first meeting with Krishna to a friend. As a character, Dogra imagines Radha as the sum of all women in Vrindavan, each woman pining for Krishna and claiming him for herself, as the individual emerges in a poignant denial of the collective.
As dancers cement their relationship with a form, they sometimes find windows of opportunity opening up within it. Prakash studied Bharatanatyam with her mother Viji and is now mentored by Malavika Sarukkai. “The more I practise, create, learn, watch, absorb, and envision, the more I believe in the possibilities of Bharatanatyam. It has always been a close and familiar language for me. Through training and practice, the ease and ‘literacy’ is growing, and it is truly an exciting process of discovery,” she said of her long association with the form.
At the other end of the spectrum, Trivedi finds that it is important for senior dancers to take the first step towards opening up classical forms. Mohiniattam, the style she practises, needs interesting choreography made by older dancers to generate interest in future generations. With the Internet changing how classical dance work can be accessed and viewed, senior dancers have a key role to play in enriching traditional dance forms, she feels.
Trivedi performs a series of three vignettes constructed around Shiva and Parvati. In the first instance, their son Kartikeya is confused by his parents’ fused, half-man, half-woman identity as Ardhanariswara. Are you my mother or father, he asks this entity? The physical differences between the masculine and the feminine lead the choreography into deeper questions about matter, spirit, divinity and identity. In the second piece, Parvati quarrels with Shiva, frustrated by the difficulties of being with a man who is wreathed in snakes, covered in ash, and ensconced in matted hair. As divine beings, they have limited privacy, and this upsets Parvati. The third instance then sees Shiva trying to placate her. She asks to see his divine dance. The choreography seeks to demonstrate the power of dance to create joy and resolve the anxieties of life.
On the concluding day of the festival, Prakash delves into the flame as a symbol of life and spirit. She was intrigued by the simultaneous vulnerability and power of the flame. “The same flame that burns (also) illuminates. It can be about goodbye and looking ahead, release and hope, shedding and seeking. It connects all worlds - cosmic, temporal, mythical, and spiritual. As a dancer and a human being, negotiating the connection between these worlds fascinates me.”
Prakash revels in the depth offered by the solo format. In the time she has spent with Sarukkai, her mentor, her dancing has been imbued with a certain presence and quality. As she put it, “The result is a constant striving towards mindfulness in practice, choreography, and exploration. It’s never simply about the ornamental or external, but always about intention. I think this sensitises the mind and body tremendously. Every movement and moment has to be lived and danced in the present – never out of habituation. This makes for constant growth and discovery.” This training, Prakash finds, makes Bharatanatyam a holistic experience that brings the mind, body and heart together. New experiments using the classical vocabulary are likely to emerge from this attention to detail and receptivity to ideas and provocations.
Pravaha is on at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point today and December 15; for more details see bookmyshow
