Finding art on a road less travelled
The students of Nadana Saathwika - The School of Dance are choreographing a dance fusion based on Sundara Kanda of Ramayana.
Most of the dance versions of the Indian epic Ramayana deal with certain parts of the story – where Rama has already been sent to the forest, accompanied by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, and then Sita gets abducted by the demon king Ravana. Of all the kandas, Sundara Kanda is the one, which dancers usually do not pick for a performance.
Now, breaking all the stereotypes, a group of dancers is getting ready for the performance of their lives, which is purely based on Sundara Kanda, the fifth book of Ramayana. “Sundara Kanda is the only book in which the hero is not Rama, but Hanuman. The book depicts the adventures of Hanuman. His selflessness, strength, and devotion to Rama are emphasised in the text. Hanuman was fondly called Sundara by his mother Anjani, which is why Sage Valmiki chose the name for this part of the epic because Sundara Kanda is about Hanuman's journey to Lanka. So, in our performance, all the emphasis is given to Hanuman than any other character,” says Usha, the choreographer of the show.
Usha claims that no one has ever depicted the entire Sundara Kanda in a performance. The show will feature not just Indian classical dance, but a variety of art forms including yoga, contemporary dance and ballet, and the traditional martial art kalaripayattu as well. “The show will be a fusion of all these art forms as they have got some common postures and movements, which was really helpful while combining them together,” says Usha.
As many as 350 artistes will be part of the performance and they have been getting trained under the guidance of Usha for the past one year. “Students from my school, Nadana Saathwika - The School of Dance, and artistes from other institutions will feature in the performance. The role of Hanuman will be done by Vinod Kumar Puthuruthy, a kalari exponent. Sanu Ashok portrays the character of Ravana,” she added.
Quizzed about the preparations, Usha says her family and her students have been very supportive of her since the moment she decided to do the project. Usha, who has more than 30 years of experience in the dance field, says that the first thing she asked her students was to understand what they were going to do. “I wanted all my students and other artists to get an idea about what we are going to perform on stage. Playing anything from Ramayana is a herculean task and you have to have a grip on the epic. I personally met many scholars, referred many books and websites before deciding which chapters I should select to perform. If I am not well prepared, how can I help my students? So, it was quite a task. During those days, I used to take my students to the beach and make them run for some time and do some basic breathing exercises. I wanted to make them fully prepared before coming up with any performance.”
One of the key features of the performance will be the music. Thrissur Ravi Varma is the music director of this fusion performance, which will feature 14 ragas.
The other attraction is the art work. “We have a good team of artists who are trying hard to take the audience back to the time of the epic. You can expect settings like those we have seen in movies such as Baahubali,” smiles Usha. The first dress rehearsal of the performance will be staged at Vilangankunnu Amphitheatre in Thrissur on February 10. “In the presence of selected guests, we will officially announce the date of the performance after the rehearsal,” she added.