The ABC of choreography

Chitra Visweswaran explained the process at a lec-dem organised by Natyarangam

CHENNAI, 10/07/2012: Bharatanatyam exponant and gurr Chitra Visweswaran

“I am an instinctive choreographer, drawing inspiration from decades of experience in the art of dance,” said Chitra Visweswaran at her lec-dem on ‘Choreography for solo and group dance’. Many young dancers, when they get an opportunity to choreograph, are often assailed by doubts and questions — what is the process to be followed; the different stages from ideation to visualisation? This lecture, the first in the series on dance choreography, organised by Natyarangam, will have senior dance practitioners share their knowledge and experience.

Chitra chose to share her personal journey of learning, assimilating and disseminating the choreographic process with video clipping of her works..

Many layers

She began by explaining how the term ‘choreography’ has become a part of the Bharatnatyam vocabulary. When she was a student, the term ‘composition’ was used to refer to a new work.

“Young dancers often have questions about the choice of songs, but it is important to have a holistic approach to understand the many layers of choreography,” said Chitra, who dwelt at length over her exposure to various art forms such as painting, theatre, literature and crafts in Calcutta, besides the rich cultural values she imbibed at home that moulded her aesthetic outlook.

Dance students who would have attended the lec-dem expecting a list of readymade guidelines to follow were in for a surprise, when Chitra gave them pointers on the kinetics of space, colour, sound and movement. “It is important to understand the meaning of every word in a composition one chooses to present, the pace at which it should be performed, the movements and the kind of musical input it would need.”

Chitra explained how her understanding of impressionistic paintings inspired her lighting design in ‘Panchali’. Video clippings from her productions ‘Panchali’, ‘Anubhuthi’ and ‘Meera’showcased her choreographic process. She spoke of how a jathi that was choreographed by her guru Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai was adapted by her to portray Jhansi Rani in a production.

Due to paucity of time, she could not go into the details of many choreographic aspects.

Besides presenting in a cohesive manner all the components needed by a dancer to choreograph, Chitra emphasised the importance of auchityam [appropriateness] of every input and the need to detach oneself from the work, to look at it objectively and also revisit it to embellish the piece.