Binding spirituality and unity through dance

BENGALURU: Often, people think of classical dance as boring or uninteresting. Drishti Art Foundation’s 14th national dance festival aims to change this mindset. Anuradha Vikranth, founder director of the foundation, believes the foundation has been able to change the outlook of people and attract untapped audiences to watch the programme.

The festival is organised every January and the 14th edition will feature the Trikaya dance Company from New Delhi and Mayurbhanj Chhau by Rakesh Sai Babu; Kuchipudi by Vyjayanti Kashi and the Shambhavi Dance Ensemble from Bengaluru and a Bharatanatyam production ‘Aikyam’ by Vikranth along with Drishti Dance Ensemble. “All the three forms of dance are  energetic and unique in its own way. This will give our audience a glimpse of the beauty of each form of dance,” says Vikranth. 

Vikranth says that her feature Aikyam guides the spiritual fulfilment of an individual during his journey in this universe. “It symbolises the amalgamation of Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram. Satyam represents the eternal truth that Prakruthi and Parameshwara are formidable. Shivam represents the powerful and purposeful combination of Shiva and Shakti that protects the progress of mankind and Sundaram beholds that all the creations in this universe are unique and belong to a single family,” she explains.

The dance, she says, can help viewers introspect how much time they allot connect with nature and their family members. The script was prepared under the guidance of scholar Shatavadhani Dr R Ganesh. “The concept was clear in my mind and hence, the choreography was easy. It has certainly been a beautiful journey to bring this out which connects our mythology with a strong message for today’s generation,” she says. The music is composed by Praveen D Rao and G Gurumurthy.

Vikranth believes dance is a powerful medium that can communicate any message clearly but not without challenges. “It’s an abstract form so there were lot of trials and errors while choreographing but I think it has come out well enough to be staged on the platform,” she says.