Thursday 5 June 2014

Interview - Dancing the evolution: An interactive with Amrita Lahiri - Bhavanvitha Venkat

At this point of time in the evolution of Kuchipudi, one doesn't suppose Lahiri has had to make such a careful choice of gestures, postures and expressions. Yet one notices a certain aesthetic control being exercised over them, thanks perhaps to the training she has received in Bharatanatyam from Leela Samson.
- Shanta Gokhale, The Times of India, January 12, 2012 

Thanks to Shanta Gokhale for the above statement as I feel her comment makes it easy to communicate to the readers about Amrita Lahiri and her Kuchipudi - evolution. Evolution is a continuous and accumulating process and it gives an apt context to this interaction with Amrita. Classical dancers like Amrita Lahiri bring in their performance a fresh perspective about creativity and reinforce faith and belief about the conventional knowledge and wisdom in the potential of the dance forms, Kuchipudi to be more specific. Here’s the follow up of Shanta Gokhale’s review about Amrita’s performance.

Fortunately, the control does no harm to Lahiri's spontaneity, expressed in her darting eyes and lively smile. All the items that she danced, choreographed by her present guru Jaikishore Mosalikanti, combined complex  footwork, clean lines, an unflagging pace and infinite grace. Her leaps and jumps were executed with the lightness of a gazelle; and one of the more awesome moments in the choreography was when the movement of her body exactly matched the meend of the bol "dheem."
Kuchipudi is a living and enriching dance that grows and adapts to the times without losing its fundamental and essential character. The very essence of how Kuchipudi is evolving and reaching and like a banyan tree spreading to find dancers like Amrita Lahiri is very inspiring. This conversation with her will help understand more about her and her beautiful dance. 


Read the interview in the site

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