Lately, during these stagnant Covid times I have seen on YouTube, videos of classes and dance routines, labeled as Guru Gopinath's Kerala Natanam. They have modified it and sadly added Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam in the stances and movement patterns. It is important for the current public and art enthusiasts therefore to know the following facts. I have itemized them for better understanding.
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Kanhopatra featured in the online Geeva Arts Festival 2021, is a digital work-in-progress of the UK-based Bharatanatyam dancer Divya Ravi, in collaboration with her musician husband, Dr. Sharan Subramanian. Observations of Divya, a senior and widely travelled artiste, about Kanhopatra are revealing. "She was the daughter of a courtesan in the 15th century, who refused to follow her mother's path of luxury. She remained a solitary woman to have treaded the path of enlightenment uninstructed. Kanhopatra's matrilineal origin and her refusal to serve as an accessory to a male saintly figure, placed her at the periphery of our patriarchal society and she was habitually brushed off as insignificant by both scholars and laymen. An autonomous, solitary woman, unattested by androcentric norms, was a threat and hence ignored."
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Thane based ace sets and lighting designer Pathikrit Mukherjee, left for his heavenly abode on 27th June 2021. Pathikrit was diabetic and was hospitalised due to certain health issues. He leaves behind his wife Odissi exponent Nivedita and son Aritra. He was 61.
For more than three decades, Pathikrit provided sets and designed lights for several dance and theatrical productions. He was associated with some of the leading organisations of Mumbai like the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Nehru Centre, Amita Banerjee's Udayan, Shahana and the Durga Pooja festival. He worked with some of the leading dancers like Menaka Thakker (USA), Uma Dogra, Daksha Mashruwala and was closely associated with the 'Ekaharya' presentations of singer, actor and composer Shekar Sen for over thirty five years, in the enactment of Tulsidas, Kabir, Vivekenanda etc. Along with Shekar Sen he toured around the world for his productions.
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Trust the ace Odissi dancer Sharmila Biswas of the eastern metropolis to think "out-of-the-box" whenever chance comes! She has spent a lifetime already in teaching talented students and choreographing on several unusual themes, besides researching on Odisha's indigenous culture of singing, musical instruments, life of Devadasis and sundry other Odisha related subjects.
And, as a conscious citizen, she kept a note of some of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi over the past couple of decades. Mahatma's political, social and spiritual journey through life, his constant quest for truth and his steely determination never to make a compromise - even under the most adverse circumstances - had made a deep impression on her thinking self as on every conscientious Indian. She had often toyed with the idea as to how she could bring them to bear upon a dancer's performance persona.
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