The art of Bharatanatyam has indeed come a long way from the time when it was taboo for women to learn the art form, to the present day when there is a surfeit of dancers waiting to be up on stage. The mushrooming of dance schools around the world has led to dance-dramas gaining popularity over solo performances.
The challenges that young dance teachers face while creating a new production motivated dancer Ambika Kameshwar, founder-director of Rasa, to conceptualise ‘Natya Rasa Lahari-2017, a seminar on ‘Choreography of/participation in group productions — Challenges and Strengths’ that had young teachers and senior Bharatanatyam artistes as participants.
“I gave up practice two decades ago but this workshop has given me the confidence to contribute to society through my art again,” said a participant, inspired by Ambika’s presentation. The multi-fold challenges that arise while working with children with different needs and other aspects of production were dealt with.
The importance of multimedia in the present scenario was explained in detail. For instance, the way visual effects make the difference to a scene, which otherwise has a plain background. Such things were educative for young dancers.
The process of choreography to suit the theme and the distinctive approaches marked the presentations of V.P. Dhananjayan and Chitra Visweswaran.
Integrating two styles
Dhananjayan spoke about how he integrated Bharatanatyam and ballet for his choreographic work ‘Jungle book,’ even while maintaining the individual identities of the two styles.
He also explained the music, set, costume, lighting and design for the production through an audio-visual presentation.
Chitra Visweswaran said her artistic sensibilities were nurtured not only by her gurus but also through the exposure to the cultural milieu of West Bengal, where she grew up. She emphasised on keeping one’s mind open, in order to assimilate as much as one can from different experiences.
The importance of training the body to express emotions, the use of theatrical lighting to enhance the expression, the changes that take place when a work is revisited were the highlights of her talk.
“We not only need to spread the art form, but more importantly nurture a lot of young minds to become rasikas,” said Dr. Sarada Natarajan during her presentation on ‘Hamsa,’ a dance-drama she had directed.
She spoke about approaching it at two levels, one the physical level with the swan as a symbol of strength, beauty, knowledge and the second at a philosophical level of self-enquiry and realisation.
“If there is clarity in the theme, the other aspects of the production will fall in place,” she added.
Besides the presentations by veteran artistes, 24 young dancers were chosen to share their thoughts and experiences while choreographing new productions. “I have only danced what I was taught each time on stage without paying attention to the other aspects; but this workshop has opened my eyes to the importance of allied areas of a production and widened my knowledge,” said Swati, a young dancer.