The 15th Natya Darshan Dance Symposium organised by Kartik Fine Arts titled Designing Space –
The Creative Process 2015 is being held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore. Spread over three days from Dec 18 to Dec 20, the event will be convened by renowned senior dancer Malavika Sarukkai. It will be a continuation of the conference Lotuses Blossom conducted in 2014 and this time, Designing Space will analyse the different aspects of the visual arts from a multi-disciplinary approach.
What was the starting point for this year’s event? A talk with Malavika sheds light on the elaborate thought process that has gone into curating this event.
“I spent several weeks contemplating in order to arrive at a worthy concept that would allow exchange of ideas and spark multiple interpretations of themes before the knowledgeable Chennai audience. As an artist I am fascinated by the tremendous creative process that is Bharatanatyam. In putting together Designing Space I wanted to explore the different facets of space, the availability of space or the lack of it, the way it is designed and explored. The inner vision of the inspired mind and how it works is the pivotal theme for the seminar.
“Our arts are interdisciplinary and the line-up of participants reflects the diverse fields of architecture, theatre, music etc. We need to be inclusive of the synergy in other disciplines and I wish to present to the audience as well as the artist this spark of originality. For instance it is exciting to find out how Raj Kumar Bharathi approaches composing music for dance. Why does he select only a particular raga for a situation and a specific kalapramanam for a stanza? So you could say that the symposium is about appreciation of the arts.”
Moving onto the specifics, Malavika explains, “The morning sessions will present lively discussions and comprehensive talks while the evening performances this year will enlarge upon the theme, ‘Jvaala Vyapnoti Aakaasam’ (The Rising Light Fills Space), which will be presented in their main compositions.
The mornings also feature younger artists such as Navia Natatrajan and Jyotsna Jagannathan, who will share their innovative choreographies such as ‘The Earthern Pot’ and ‘Kolam.’ We have talented artists such as Kapila Venu, Vaibhav Arekar and experts such as Chitra Madhavan and Gowri Ramnarayan bringing their viewpoints to the table.
“On the last day evening, Odissi by Sharmila Biswas will be followed by Bharatanatyam by Mythili Prakash.
The décor has been taken care of by Jayashree Poddar, who will also be talking on stage design and will closely reflect the ideology of the event. Designing Space is a vast canvas where the audience and artist will be relooking and revisiting the plurality in arts,” she signs off.
