Shovana Narayan - Kathak Dance Theatre
The
six Tibetan Buddhist monks did not dance. Yet they were a compelling presence
on stage and an integral part of the ballet that Shovana Narayan had created to
tell tales of the Buddha and of emperor Ashoka in choreographic brush strokes
of ballet, at Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad on the 3rd of April
2016.
The costume-colours of the dancers and the carefully designed stage and
lghting matched the ochre robes of the Tibetan Buddhist monks while they moved
in procession. Chanting sometimes. Clapping cymbals sometimes. Strategically
and aesthetically placing themselves on the platforms placed at two levels on
the stage, on and around which, the principle dancer Shovana Narayan, and the
graceful and energetic Kathak dancers, six female and two male dancers, worked their magic. Swooping and swirling around the monks.
graceful and energetic Kathak dancers, six female and two male dancers, worked their magic. Swooping and swirling around the monks.
Shovana
Narayan the the principal dancer and choreographer, commanded the eyes of the
audience when she made a her entries, lending more drama to the already
dramatic ballet, while she pirrouetted and whirled; tracing elegant arabesques
with her arms and etching the floor with her rhythmic footwork.
The very accomplished dancers of the troupe
were excellent to watch too, while they twirled and swayed and danced to the
specially composed and recorded music, to tell the stories, the katha, that
kathak is named for, which Shovana Narayan had choreographed so spectacularly.
Each dance, or movement, told different stories. Of Ashoka, who realises
the futility of war after battle. Shovana played the part of emperor Ashoka,
ferocious and then contrite. The dancers depicted the battle with ferocity and yet
with beguiling grace. Another episode was that of a mother telling a story to a
dying child and then appealing to Buddha who tells her that life cannot be
brought back.
The last story; of Buddhas’ enlightenment, and how he realises that the
source of suffering is within all beings and not without, and that an end to
suffering is not through deprivations of the body and extreme rejection of the
world, nor is it through deep and corrupting involvement with it, but, in
striking a middle path. He then accepts food from Sujatha, depicted by Shovana
Narayan.
The monks participated in this with chants and ‘throat singing’ and the
clashing of cymbals. To hear ‘throat singing’ by the Tibetan monks was a rare
pleasure. This vocal technique, a form
of Buddhist Chanting is usually only heard in Tibet. It is a deep, pulverising,
drone-growl that carries to the end of the theatre. For those who hear this for
the first time, it is intense and overwhelming. It would perhaps sound odd and unmusical. But, Tibetan throat singing is an aid to meditation, and with time, and getting
used to it, it is relaxing, mystical, peaceful and tension dissipating.
And though this type of drone-chanting is a rare talent, the Tibetan monk practitioner
was humility personified, as all the Tibetan monks on stage were. Clapping his
cymbals while droning and going to his assigned place on stage without calling
attention to
Kathak itself is a beautiful dance form, and a pleasingly conceived
dance ballet with nine Kathak dancers and six Tibetan Buddhist monks on stage, took dance aesthetics to a high point. The mind lingered on the dance theatre that we saw; we enjoyed the visual imagery and the worlds created by the dancers in a series of evocations; we enjoyed the passion and the precision with which the dancers expressed themselves, the difficult rhythms that they exultantly danced through, and we enjoyed the marriage of music, dance and meditation that they presented.
As Rinpoche Duboom Tulku, the stately, Founder and Managing Trustee of
the World Buddhist Culture Trust, co-sponsor, along with the Departments of
Culture and Language, and Tourism, Govt.of Telangana, said, the idea of having
this beautiful presentation was nothing more than to share the belief in “love,
compassion and tolerance”. dance ballet with nine Kathak dancers and six Tibetan Buddhist monks on stage, took dance aesthetics to a high point. The mind lingered on the dance theatre that we saw; we enjoyed the visual imagery and the worlds created by the dancers in a series of evocations; we enjoyed the passion and the precision with which the dancers expressed themselves, the difficult rhythms that they exultantly danced through, and we enjoyed the marriage of music, dance and meditation that they presented.
Photographs: G.V. Anna Rao
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