Martial arts manoeuvres, percussion rhythms and theyyam rituals extended into the night to provide a colourful finale to the Tantrotsav festival at Kalarigram near Auroville.
In a brightly lit arena, the performers of Bhagavathy Theyyam , an art form popular in North Kerala, decked in a costume made of coconut leaf strands, ornaments and brightly painted head-dress made a dramatic appearance to the roll of the percussion instruments.
During an elaborate performance marked by verse and oracle-speak, the theyyam , believed to be an incarnate of the divine, gave blessings to kalari exponents, artists, and even a tiny tot remarkably unfazed by the surroundings.
The finale, which coincided with Shivaratri , also featured a Silambam performance, a sarod recital by Arnab Bhattacharya and Nilimesh Chakraborty (tabla), a cultural pagaent, K alaripayattu , Thee Kuttychatthan Theyyam and a concert by fusion band Funkistan .
This year’s events, co-hosted by Yogishananda Peetham and Indica, featured a potpourri of music and dance forms spanning Odissi , Mohinyattam and Chhau , fusion music, Baul , satsang and story-telling sessions.
Among the high points were the Mohiniyattam performance by Keiko Okano from Japan. Having explored classical ballet, photography, music and fine art in Japan and America, Ms. Keiko took interest in Indian traditional arts which she felt was firmly connected to her home country. This exploration finally led her to Mohiniyattam .
Gowwli , a two-piece music band, took the floor on one of the nights with a reinvention of Carnatic and coastal folk music.
A rare presentation was the American tribal dance by Paulina Marin, an actress and dancer from Chile. She has been learning Kalaripayattu under Lakshman Gurukkal at Kalarigram since 2018.
Tantra Natyam by Laurence, a non-choreographed and spontaneous movement art form, a fire dance by Laurence Morlon, Odissi by Lopamudra Jena and Vithya Arasu, Bharatanatyam by Vijayan Gunasekaran, Baul music by Sri Chaya and Adi were some highlights.
Shivagarjana Prathisthan presented Mardani Khel , a martial art form from Maharashtra.
Eleanore Genelle’s Odissi, Jayprabha Menon’s Mohiniyattam and Atanu Das’s Bharatanatyam were the other performances.
Jatayu’s storytelling session on Parvati’s marriage to Shiva drew from Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhavam and Tamil hymns from Thiruvasagam and Thevaram while Toni Cots, actor, director and researcher, led a session on: On the Edge: Between Fiction and Reality-The Intimate Act of Performing .
One of the special sessions was Beyond the Urban-Stories of Women , hosted by Urban Folk Project, an initiative to build bodies of work that introduces folk art forms and knowledge systems to an urban audience. The project is led by led by Shilpa Mudbi Kothakota and Adithya Kothakota.
