Eleni of Sparta is her first ‘non-Indian’ story. Evidently, Rajika has
undertaken a great deal of research work, visiting Greece and studying
the classics Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey and Bettany Hughes’ Helen of
Troy. Eleni is commonly known as Helen of Troy. With her training in
western music Rajika adapts songs, singing when performing and with
powerful voice tells the story engaging attention of the audience.
Taking cue from Sanskrit plays she impersonates the role of a Sutradhar
(storyteller) and using ekaharya lasyanga principle of Natyashastra, in
which a character enacts various roles in a solo performance in one
costume, she successfully employs that style, combining acting, dancing
and singing. She has named it as Sutradhari Natyam.
Eleni of Sparta unfolds in seven episodes. She has modelled each episode
on a different genre of Odissi dance, with music set to ragas derived
from the six Hindustani thaats (scales) that are equivalent to ancient
Greek melodic modes, and as she states in her programme book, ‘and Greek
folkloric rhythms similar to those of Odissi dance and music.’
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A student of Pt Durga Charan Ranbir, Odissi dancer Rahul Acharya is
based in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. A torch-bearer of the Guru Deb Prasad Das
style, he was the first male Odissi dancer to be honored with the Ustad
Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar award from the Government of India in
2009. Other than his dance, Rahul is an avid devotee of Lord Jagannatha
and well versed in Sanskrit. He is trained in Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga
in the Bihar School of Yoga. He enjoys reading and researching on
Shastras (scriptures) and bringing them to the forefront through his
dance.
Here, Rahul Acharya shares his views on a variety of matters pertaining to Odissi dance.
With the rising popularity of Odissi, do you think the traditional movements are in any way being affected?
Tradition is a transitioning element. There is no static tradition.
Customs, beliefs and practices have been altered frequently to suit the
changing times. What we practice as Odissi today is certainly not what
Bharata mentioned as Odra Magadhi in the Natya Shastra. The style of
Odissi that we practice today was not what it was during the 50’s.
When the repertoire of Odissi was being developed the entire Margam
hardly lasted 15-20 mins. Today, one single choreography can go on for
hours. Thus there is no one tradition that dancers need to stick to. But
there is a basic underlying grammar that characterizes Odissi’s
antiquity and uniqueness. We have all learnt it as beginners and have
practiced it ever since. This basic grammar is the building block of the
dance form. Thus it becomes quite important to understand and digest
what our masters have passed down to us. We need to preserve this rich
legacy that has been handed over to us and take it a step further with
our own innovations.
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Apprenticeship under Ellappa was a marvelous learning experience for
Laxminarayan. In the 7 years of Gurukulavasam, he had to observe
everything that his guru taught his students. His guru took him to watch
programs of luminaries like Balasaraswati. All this was his training
and inspiration. Apart from dance, his guru taught him Tamil; the
importance of enunciating and understanding the lyrics of a song
properly; the need to apply his mind to the meaning of the songs; and
the art of nattuvangam and the skills needed for it, especially how to
utter the jatis with the proper intonation and the appropriate stress on
'vallinam' and 'mellinam.' Even during his learning period,
Laxminarayan had opportunities to practice what he had learned, for
Ellappa would send him as a substitute to conduct the recital of one or
the other disciples whenever he himself could not do
so.
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Baroda in Gujarat - a small royal town - bit like Mysore in south India,
is the reason Bharatanatyam reached the rest of India. While no single
person or event can make historical changes, they become a catalyst and
link in that chain. Yes, had it not been for two devadasis who
came as “dowry” when a Tanjore princess married the royalty of Baroda,
Bharatanatyam would have never reached north and west and rest of India a
century ago. Here’s how.
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Educate a woman and thereby educate a nation is a popular saying.
Bhaarata, our nation is known to have been led by several women who had
deep-rooted knowledge of many subjects and could openly debate with men.
The education which a woman possessed was most useful in grooming
herself and molding the children from within the family system which was
itself a replica of a world class university. Art, culture, skills,
values were all part and parcel of the process and means of acquiring
knowledge with the larger end of spiritual goals.
Education enabled one to pursue the four goals, the Purusharthas with
due regard to the Ashramas or stages of life. Women were not expected to
earn a living and their knowledge reflected on their position as the
backbone of every society to balance a peaceful co-existence. Our
legends often quote some occasion or the other where even the deified
lord turned to his spouse for advice at crucial moments. Stree Shakti is
the energy that enables every movement, action and knowledge and this
principle is portrayed as ‘the one who rides a tiger.’ Devi, called by
various names, is the combined power of G-O-D as the generative,
operative and destructive force. Every religion has similar
representations. In yogic philosophy, SHE stands for fire and in fact,
it was far easier for a woman to achieve the highest spiritual goals
than man and hence, she was discreetly kept away by the men from many
practices in order to reserve her attention on the family.
Arts, be it fine arts or performing arts, encompasses a whole stream of
visual and spatial geometry, beauty and harmony. While the term ‘modern’
may permit loud expression, the term ‘classical’ characterizes
subtlety. Either static or movement-based, they always provide scope for
imagination and creativity and suggest an enhanced connectivity with
the viewers.
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Amethyst recently organized the Chennai launch of Briana Blasko’s book
Dance of the Weave - A Dialogue Between Traditional Textiles & Dance
in India (Penguin Books India). Briana is a noted photographer
and practitioner of yoga who currently resides in New Delhi. Her
book is the culmination of six years of meticulous research and
documentation throughout India.
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Nritarutya’s latest production ‘Madhur Milan’ was staged on Feb 15, 2014
at the Ambani matriarch’s residence. The beauty of our myths is that it
is timeless, the characters of gods and goddess are relatable and most
importantly it can hold meaning even in a modern day with its newer
realities. Last entire month we celebrated Ganapathi, Krishna and
Shakthi and how. It was an enormous feat taking a crew of 102 to Mumbai
for a very special occasion: to commemorate the 80th birthday
celebrations of Kokilaben Dirubhai Ambani at her Mumbai residence, Sea
Wind. While speaking with Kokilaben, in my earlier meets, I discovered
that one of her beautiful traits is her love for god; she is a god
loving and not god fearing person. She is a devotee of Sri Nathji and
her relationship with god reminded me of Yashodha’s vatsalya, Radha’s
preethi, and Meera’s bhakti.
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Sitting on the floor and doing abhinaya ....I don't mean veterans
sitting and demonstrating.....I mean sprightly Bharatanatyam dancers
sitting on the stage and showing some part of the narrative, has become
common. Frankly I don't know where this has come from. Rather, I should
say I know.....!
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