Music, dance, comedy on the move

As Shweta Prachande began a bharatanatyam piece to Shruthi Ravali Manda’s singing, it marked the beginning of a journey filled with a series of performances for the passengers of an MTC bus plying on the ‘5E’ route.

As part of the Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha, a group of performers from the city, with the aim of taking performing arts to public spaces, put up dance, music, theatre and stand-up comedy on the bus going from Vadapalani to Besant Nagar.

“It is vital to take the performing arts to public spaces and for me, it was interesting to perform in a space where the audience is changing. Artistes should be ready to engage with the audience anywhere, irrespective of the performing space, and connect with them,” she said. The bharatanatyam dancer performed three pieces on the moving bus, the songs for which were sung by Shruthi.

While the previous editions of such performances on a bus were largely centred around music, Vidhya Raghavan, a singer and one of the organisers, said that they decided to bring in other forms too.

As part of the Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha, performances have been organised in railway stations in the past.

Putting up a short play ‘Mudivu’, Kalpana and Narmadha from the Pareeksha theatre group played women, who meet regularly on a bus and threw the spotlight on women and their everyday decisions. Vijay Deivasigamani, a singer and composer from the city, performed a set of popular Ilayaraaja songs.

K. Malathy, a resident of Vadapalani, who regularly travels on the 5E bus route, said it was a pleasant surprise to see performances during her routine commute. Alexander, who later performed a stand-up comedy which was also filled with songs said it was a welcome move to take arts to the public.