This Christmas, the margazhi season in Chennai will crescendo to one of the most awaited dance festivals that finally makes its way to the city after quite a hiatus, thanks to the COVID-19 lockdowns. The Dance for Dance festival presented by Kalavaahini was started in 2018 and was in response to the need for a well curated festival where both junior and senior artistes could share their work in an environment conducive to fostering excellence. Kartik Fine Arts, a popular sabha in the city came on board in support of this initiative and has been their venue partner since — as the festival premières, year after year, performances of acclaimed artistes to house-full shows while also showcasing younger talent to give them greater visibility during the margazhi maadham (season). We catch up with renowned danseuse, Padma Shri Malavika Sarukkai — who has curated the festival since its inception — to find out more about what we can look forward to this year.
“This is the third year that we’re holding the Dance for Dance festival, presented by Kalavaahini, and for three days in a row. We began this festival in 2018 and as a founding trustee of Kalavaahini, I was asked to curate the festival. The idea behind the festival has always been to present a mix of artistes from the younger generations in a mélange with more senior artistes, during the peak of margazhi season in Chennai. We’ve often been requested by artistes to do it during this specific time (around Christmas) as the city attracts a certain specific audience who come down from all over the world, just in time for the season. Chennai, undoubtedly, becomes the destination to be at if you are an art lover, during this season, and the city surely comes alive. The interest to attend these concerts and performances becomes quite the intense passion and it’s been like this for decades,” begins Malavika, who was also the winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, in 2002.
“We’ve always partnered with Kartik Fine Arts for this festival and we’re actually just a part of their larger festival that they always curate for margazhi. We are a separate festival, though, and the sabha (Kartik Fine Arts) gives us exclusive control over the programming for the three days during which we present the Dance for Dance festival. We strive towards curating a very tight and well-balanced festival to give the audience an experience of what dance can be. We try and represent as many art forms as possible and in that sense, we are very inclusive. This year, however, it will be a very bharatanatyam intensive festival for the most part. We’ve got local-favourite Leela Samson’s dance company Spanda; and then on the same day, we also have Aniruddha Knight and Anita Ratnam. On the second day, we have two interesting groups from abroad — Sampradaya Dance Company from Toronto and Mavin Khoo from London. The third day will see a very promising dancer from Coimbatore, Karuna Sagari; and from Bengaluru, Punyah Dance Company. It goes without saying that we’d like to present more artistes, but there is always the limitation of how much funding we get and how much time we have,” she adds.
Kalavaahini is an arts trust that was created with the purpose of fostering excellence in classical dance. The activities of the trust take a multi-dimensional approach ranging from the practice of art techniques and inter-disciplinary dialogue to the archiving and dissemination of creative processes. The pursuit of excellence in dance requires dedication over several years and is sustained and nourished by the passion and commitment of the artiste. The platforms available to present meaningful work in the classical genre are few and to ensure art and artistes create an enduring legacy, the trusts tried to put together the support of informed philanthropists and well-wishers.
“But in addition to our festival this year, what we’re also doing is — on the morning of December 24, Saturday; we’re presenting performances by our fellowship awardees, K Sarveshan and Sreelakshmy Govardhanan — and this will be non-ticketed and free, unlike the festival. Sarveshan is from Kenya and the winner of our junior fellowship and will be performing bharatanatyam, while Sreelakshmy is originally from Kerala, and the winner of our senior fellowship, and will be performing kuchipudi. These fellowship performances are usually done on a different date, but we decided to bring them into the festival as a separate part, to ensure they get as much of the margazhi crowd as possible. The fellowship involves financial assistance to enable them to produce a piece that they wish to perform and the fellowship aims to tell artistes that we value their pursuits in dance, we value their explorations within their chosen art forms and that just the fact that they are trying to do something different is being noticed,” explains the danseuse, who was also a recipient of Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu, way back in 1994.
But does the festival hope to bring other non-classical dances and forms, and less popular classical forms to the fore too, we ask? “India is very vast and diverse and there is actually so much to present and the art changes from practitioner to practitioner — the whole thing can be quite mind-boggling. The choices are so many and if you’re asking: if it is necessary to bring them all to the fore, then yes, absolutely! But the real challenge is about the time available to us, the money being spent and the spaces being made available to dancers. Is presenting more performances during margazhi the ideal thing to do? I’m not sure, I think the downside of the season is how saturated the scene gets and then the next question is: who do you then accommodate in the festivals already happening? It’s very different for bigger organisations like Sangeet Natak Akademi and Kalakshetra — they have the capability to accommodate many more artistes and all through the year, at that. I think, we just need to open our eyes and accommodate as many dancers and art forms as possible. Like, why don’t we have festivals celebrating folk dances, yet? That apart, most performance pieces are built for proscenium theatre and dancers are forced to make do with it. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a space built keeping our dances in mind? We really need many more spaces opening themselves to us. There are hardly any alternate spaces available in Chennai. Dance is always expected to adapt to the spaces available. Every dancer I know would love to dance in a space that has been constructed specifically for dance, which is conducive to the art form,” concludes Malavika.
LOOK FORWARD TO:
Aniruddha Knight & Anita Ratnam
Aniruddha Knight, grandson of Padma Vibhushan T Balasaraswati, will be rediscovering rare padams of his family tradition that dates back over 250 years. These rare pieces will showcase the myriad gamut of music, dance, emotion and passion that have proven to be the foundation of one of South India’s oldest familial legacies. Anita Ratnam will be the narrator of each piece and describe its poetic value and the many family anecdotes of how each padam has its own niche in the tradition.
Spanda Dance Company
The company will present Andhadhi, which is about something borrowed from the past, something created anew — we live in the present with the advantage of having the past with us and looking at the unknown in the form of the future.
Sampradaya Dance Creations
At this festival, they present Mandala. Bridging the yantras of Hinduism and the sand mandalas of Tibetan Buddhist practice, the artistes consecrate the stage and the body to a divine purpose of self-realisation. The 60-minute performance draws us into a portal, revealing the sacred geometry mapping our cosmos. As we are welcomed into the silent interior space of the mandala, potent with energy and discovery, we come to realise that dance, as life, as also the mandala are in the moment — ephemeral and transitory.
Mavin Khoo
The London-based Malaysian bharatanatyam artiste presents a recital in which he interweaves selected fragments of different compositions in order to create an experiential journey for the audience.
Karuna Sagari
The dancer will be presenting pieces in a concert format without any central theme. However, they are not the compositions from the regular margam repertoire alone and will have a varnam as the central piece along with alternate literature.
Punyah Dance Company
Popular trio from Punyah Dance Company — Parshwanath Upadhye, Shruti Gopal and Adithya PV present Nagamandala. Folklore of India has not only been a source of entertainment but they also emanate wisdom through their simple yet internally complicated storytelling style. Nagamandala explores the crux of human emotions in a land where snakes can shift their form to humans. Choreographically, this work brings out the beauty of northern Karnataka’s rural Kannada dialects along with the rustic music style of gigi pada.
INR 150 onwards. December 23, 24 and 25. At Kartik Fine Arts, Abhiramapuram.
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