Danseuse Malavika Sarukkai brings the premiere of her latest production, Beeja, to Bengaluru this weekend

Malavika Sarukkai, a distinguished Indian classical dancer and choreographer, is renowned for her mastery of bharatanatyam. Born in 1959 in Tamil Nadu, she began her dance journey at the age of seven, training under the guidance of Kalyanasundaram Pillai (Thanjavur bani) and Rajaratnam (Vazhuvoor bani). Over the years, she honed her skills in abhinaya with Kalanidhi Narayanan and odishi with celebrated gurus such as Kelucharan Mohapatra. A recipient of the prestigious Padmashri in 2003, Malavika has graced stages worldwide. Her artistry and contributions have been immortalised in the documentary Samarpanam, commissioned by the Government of India. Choosing to premiere her latest production, Beeja – Earth Seed, in Bengaluru, we catch up with the celebrated artiste ahead of the show to learn more.

“To me, Beeja represents potential, extending into the question of what our planet has to offer and what we have done with it. It embodies the generosity of this earth, while also posing the question: where are we going with it and what is happening to this planet? The production brings into focus the footprint humanity is leaving on the earth, through the protagonist of a banyan tree. Beeja – Earth Seed is all about subaltern voices, which is also why I chose this name. It is these voices that speak through the production. Normally, we hear everything from the human perspective, but I wanted to explore what a deer might feel, or a swan. I wanted to play with ideas around what they could represent and what we might learn from them. Beeja also seeks to implore humanity to understand that we must share the planet with many other living creatures. I hope it serves as a reminder that humans are not the owners of this earth. We cannot act purely for profit or to satisfy our greed, ambition and self-indulgence. We cannot just consume the planet! The production sees characters such as the tree, the deer and the swan speak up, but it is also a commentary on humankind’s irresponsibility,” Malavika begins.

Presented by Kalavaahini and Malavika Sarukkai, the event is supported by Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies. It germinated and evolved in response to the hard reality that, in the last 50 years, planet Earth has been exploited to dangerous levels to serve the ideals of economic growth and profit, fuelled by human greed.

“Beeja stands apart from most contemporary dance productions, because, while it uses deeply classical music as a score, it also incorporates contemporary sound design. We have managed to map various worlds into this one production. I’ve worked with a team of collaborators, each an exceptional artist in their own right. Filmmaker Sumantra Ghosal is a creative collaborator, having worked on script and text narration. I conceptualised and choreographed the work, while Sumantra has written poetry for it. The production also features narration and text in English. Sai Shravanam has collaborated as the music producer, music director and sound designer; and is an exceptional tabla artiste. We also have V Rajkumar Bharati, a renowned music composer from Chennai; and Niranjan Gokhale, our lighting designer and technical director.  What binds them all together in this production is that they are deeply rooted in their respective disciplines but open to exploring new ideas. That’s the kind of work I do too — deeply rooted in tradition but open to change. I think, it’s vital to be rooted in tradition, to have a strong core and then gently expand horizons. This is particularly important to me, as I view tradition as something very tangible and living. I don’t see it as something of the past; to me, it’s very much in the present. I love exploring tradition, asking, ‘How far can we go?’ Yes, it’s a challenge, but it’s exciting and inventive. We are maintaining tradition while opening it up. This is also the first production in India to feature ambisonic sound, designed to provide the audience with an immersive surround-sound experience. We will also have two live musicians on stage (Krithika Arvind, vocals; and Nellai Balaji, percussion – mridangam), in addition to recorded sound, which is also quite unique,” concludes the danseuse, who will perform in the city ahead of International Women’s Day.

INR 299 onwards. 7 March, 7:30 pm onwards. At Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

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