On the process of creativity

Dancers and scholars deliberated on various aspects at the annual conference, held in Chennai.

January 22, 2015 05:20 pm | Updated January 29, 2015 07:10 pm IST

MALAVIKA SARUKKAI DANSEUSE,BHARATA

MALAVIKA SARUKKAI DANSEUSE,BHARATA

The 14th Natya Darshan conference on ‘Lotuses Blossom: The Creative Process,’ had a befitting start with noted art historian Dr. B.N. Goswamy’s keynote address.

‘Befitting start’ would be an understatement to the scholarly presentation of Mughal, Rajasthani and Pahari miniature paintings, enhanced by the lilts in Dr. Goswamy’s engaging commentary. It left an intangible residuum of satisfaction and inspired a few artists to spontaneously draw from it in their presentations. The annual conference was curated by Malavika Sarukkai and co-curated by Professor Hari Krishnan. It was presented by Kartik Fine Arts at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai.

Uma Nambudripad Sathya Narayanan’ s ‘Kalinga Narthana,’ an excerpt from her production, ‘Santhwani’, was a meritable presentation, but seemed like a forced connection to the context of Creative Process. It also made one question the relevance of a performance in a conference.

Shyamala Mohanraj of the Balasaraswati lineage, after a quick ‘jathi’ along with her disciple, delineated abhinaya in detail by demonstrating a javali and a Kshetragna padam, which audience immediately connected with and sat up to watch. Her unconscious singing while dancing was testimony and prelude to Aniruddha Knight’ s demonstration of ‘Musicality of Dance in T. Balasaraswati style.’

Combing through every tiny curl and cadence in the music, Aniruddha presented corresponding abhinaya as passed on to him by his mother and Balasaraswati’s daughter, Lakshmi Knight. Singer Usha Shivakumar’s demonstration of how Lakshmi taught a certain sangati (variation) by literally holding a gesture close to her face was indeed a moment when the singer danced and the dancer sang. The Bala spell was the immediate choice for best take home moment from the conference to some and a material calling for acquired taste to others.

Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar ’s demonstration with his students on his production ‘Panchamahabhutam,’ was a sure contender for the highlight of the conference. A visual concept of the five primordial elements in the Sastras and their presence in Nature, the choreography was a beautiful example of layered thought-process adhering to the grammar of Bharatanatyam. The depth of detail in nritta and its application to make choreography dimensional, questioned how compulsory multi-media and other supplements are to keep every dance production engaging.

Bangalore-based historian Vikram Sampath took the audience on a sojourn into the life and times of Gauhar Jaan, the first dame of Indian music, who recorded her voice on a shellac disc in 1902. Facts, instances, analogies and digitised audio excerpts of Gauhar Jaan’s original 78 RPM recordings, sequenced meaningfully, not only brought across the historian love for his subject but also took the audience close enough to Gauhar Jaan’s life, to understand her challenges and to enjoy the subtle humour. It also came as the much needed few minutes of laughter in an otherwise intense conference.

Gauri Sharma Tripathi ’s ‘Thumri and Kavitt’ started with a lyrical rendition that dripped emotion. It was followed by a performance of excerpts from her previous works ‘Nissar,’ ‘Flight’ and ‘Vyuha.’ Again a performance in a conference slot, it found context through her panel discussion with Dr. Anita Ratnam and Geeta Chandran that followed.

Co-curator Hari Krishnan played a great moderator in the conversation on ‘Interpreting the Creative Process,’ to tap specific responses from artists with such vast varied experiences. “My geography is my history,” started Anita Ratnam after a spontaneous portrayal of creative process as an extension of the current state of mind. Geeta Chandran spoke about nuancing. She added that creative process stems from the skill acquired as one grows as a dancer and charmed the audience with her beautiful singing as she demonstrated a padam. Gauri Sharma spoke about site specificity and took the idea of growing as a dancer up North, to how she followed critical reviews in the newspaper to improve herself. Malavika Sarukkai commented that creativity is always in isolated pockets and artists needed philanthropists more than sponsors.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on SadanamP.V.Balakrishnan . The artist’s commitment to Kathakali as a performer, teacher, choreographer and director, dotted with honours and awards, shone through even in the brief demonstration of the ‘Nava Rasas’ after the felicitation ceremony.

“Manodharma or imagination does not apply only to poetry, music or dance. It is an inherent attitude, which soars with breathtaking beauty, gilding every thought.” Lakshmi Vishwanathan’s metaphorical interpretation of ‘Lotuses Blossom’ through ‘Sahasrapatram – A Thousand Years of Thanjavur Culture’ was welcome food for thought among abundant feast for the eyes.

Vidya Sankaranarayanan ’s performance (yet again in a conference slot) brought forth her experience as a dancer, musician and nattuvanar with the two distinctive styles of Guru Kittappa Pillai and Guru Lakshmi Knight. Her swarajati on Lord Brihadeesha and excerpts from Sarabhendra Bhupala Kuravanji demonstrated the strengths of the two Thanjavur styles.

‘Saadrshyam’ by Sheejith Krishna was a praise-worthy effort to portray emotions, the intangibles, through our experience in the physical world. The demonstration by his students used the basic alphabet of nritta to portray emotions. A spontaneous talk would have reached out far better than Sheejith’s rehearsed reading of complex script through the lecture.

“‘Framing expectations’, a management phrase, is a serious artist’s responsibility,” said Malavika Sarukkai on the need for creativity in the process. The cross disciplinary dialogue from scholars and historians was appreciated among artists and audience alike. The conclusion of the conference turned out to be rather unceremonious due to the delay in the events, with Devina Dutt’s worthy observations reported in a hurry.

Video clips of legends were screened. The event management by Aalaap, visual design by Rex and execution by Victor Paulraj and the booklet, ‘Did you know?’ by Arangham Trust, were well worth a mention.

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