Ask classical dancers what they enjoy most about performing, and they will often confess to a fondness for solo dancing. For some, it is an opportunity to revisit old favourites from the repertoire, returning to them anew after working in a variety of contexts. Flying solo gives them the run of the stage, allowing for greater spontaneity and flexibility during the performance. The three artists dancing at the multi-venue Keli Classical Dance Festival this weekend swear by the joy of solo performance for various reasons.
Spread over three days, the festival features Bharatanatyam by Malavika Sarukkai, Kuchipudi by Sreelakshmy Govardhanan and Mohiniattam by Jayaprabha Menon. Sarukkai opens the festival, performing some of her favourite compositions. A soloist for most of her career, no two performances are ever the same for Sarukkai. “In a solo, the energy fields around and within the dancer come together. The great advantage is that one can get on stage and move the energy to where one wants it to be. The philosophy of how I dance is that I am not dancing in space, but with space. Space becomes a very active partner and is extremely significant in the work I do,” said Sarukkai.
For Sreelakshmy Govardhanan, who performs on Saturday, conveying the group dynamics of Kuchipudi yakshagana in the solo format constitutes a challenge. After studying the dance technique of the form, Govardhanan chose to study yakshagana, the dramatic component of traditional Kuchipudi performance, learning from stalwarts in Andhra Pradesh’s Kuchipudi village. At the festival, Govardhanan’s performance includes the Mandodari sabdam, a Kuchipudi staple that uses technique and emotion to tell the story of Mandodari’s metamorphosis from a frog to the queen of Lanka. A series of extracts from the Usha Parinayam forms the centrepiece of her recital. A popular yakshagana text, its long dream sequence, where Usha imagines a romantic encounter with a young man, carves out a rich space for a meta narrative in the story.
Govardhanan is particular about the subtle differences that set Kuchipudi apart from two other classical dances in the vicinity, Bharatanatyam and Odissi. Since parts of Odisha and Tamil Nadu made up the erstwhile Madras Presidency, with large swathes of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there are shared references that link the region’s cultural landscape. However, Kuchipudi, Govardhanan points out, has characteristic traits, from the unsophisticated fluidity of the body to the rawness and rootedness of its dramatic component.
The festival ends with a performance featuring the Delhi-based Jayaprabha Menon in performance. Menon works extensively with young dancers, tracing the ebb and flow of interest in the classical arts. Increasingly, among the students she teaches, classical dance is seen as a way of returning to one’s roots. Menon performs a traditional, evening-length selection from the Mohiniattam repertoire. In one of her pieces, she focuses on Urmila, Lakshmana’s wife in the epic Ramayana. While the Ramayana often speaks of Sita and Rama as a couple, there is little mention of Urmila. In a popular myth, Lakshmana asks Urmila to help him balance out the 14 years of wakefulness he seeks by taking on his burden, and sleeping, without interruption, while he stays awake in the forest. In this way, Menon tries to weave an interest in the new and innovative into her work.
The Keli Classical Dance Festival: Malavika Sarukkai at Y.B Chavan Centre, Nariman Point at 6.45 p.m. on February 9; Sreelakshmi Govardhana at DAE Cultural Centre, Trombay on February 10; Jayaprabha Menon at Terna auditorium, Nerul West on February 11; entry free on all days.
