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Different styles, unique steps
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"Dust", a fusion of Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance, is all set to be staged today at the Chinmaya Heritage Center on Harrington Road. A preview.
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IN THE quiet of midmorning, the only sound is that of the conch shell which is part of the Tibetan ritualistic music. The air is filled with a serenity that comes from complete absorption in the task at hand and the dancers, the creators and the world at large are at peace. They move, but it's a gesture of prayer to things that are tangible, intangible, moving yet static, dynamic yet languorous.
To the creators, Anita Ratnam, Arangam Trust, and Mark Taylor, Dance Alloy, U.S., this is just the beginning. Of a path that will take its own course as it evolves, as it grows and as it communicates itself to all those who choose to witness it.
Shree Bharatalaya is the venue where the two, along with the dancers, rehearse for "Dust", their 30-minute work, to be presented in Chennai (on December 3, at the Chinmaya Heritage Center, Harrington Road), Hyderabad and Delhi in India, and in the U.S. later.
Actually, "Dust" came into being in April 2001, when Anita and Mark, along with their respective dancers, joined together and made this spiritual quest. With music by Alice Shields, the work is the culmination of a three-year dialogue, interaction and experimentation, focussing on the interlacing of two styles of dance — Bharatanatyam and contemporary post-modern movements and forms.
More interesting is the fact that the music and movements have drawn their inspiration from the Tibetan ritual music and the writings of Alexandra David Neel, a European Buddhist scholar, also one of the first from the western world to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, and from the photographs and sounds of the Tibetan landscape and life.
Neel's life was very eventful, and after a long passage in the course of her life, she disguised herself as a beggar to enter Lhasa, travelling on foot in the harsh Tibetan winter, along with her adopted son, the lama Yongden. She was finally found to be a foreigner and was forced to retreat to India. She went back to Europe for a while only to come back to China and India for about 10 years at the age of 68. Eventual retirement came about when she went back to Digne, France, and continued to write and edit Buddhist texts until her death at 101.
The production focuses on another aspect of Buddhist tradition — the Chod, meaning cutting through, a Buddhist tantric practice. In Tibet, it is taught to beginners for accumulation of merits. It is also practised by ardent devotees for the realisation of dharmakaya — the pinnacle of Buddhist realisation. It's fascinating in its history and practice, unique and yet, so common.
As the centre of the floor that day became a stage, the dancers put themselves through movements that spoke volumes — whether you can follow that or not is purely subjective and depends on the frame of mind. They twirl, bend, take up the empty space and fill it with movements. The Dust is sacred — it is part of the being, and yet, separate. It is an end and a beginning. It changes lives and also allows for a kind of permanence. It is an experiment, yet, something that draws you into patterns that maybe age-old.
Tradition meets the modern. The spirit takes its freedom only to fetter itself in a time frame. It's all a matter of 30 minutes, but infinity is there for all to see.
CHITRA MAHESH
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