Malavika Sarukkai‘s Beeja Earth Seed pushes classical dance into new territory

For decades, the stage has been a sacred landscape for celebrated bharatanatiyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai — a space where mythology, spirituality and beauty have moved in lyrical harmony. But with Beeja Earth Seed, her latest and perhaps most urgent production, the dancer steps into darker terrain. This is no retelling of an epic or invocation of the divine. Instead, it is a searing meditation on a planet in distress.

Returning to Bengaluru with the production around World Environment Day (June 5), Malavika in conversation with Indulge describes the work as, “a significant commentary on planet earth through the language of dance.” The timing, she believes, lends it particular resonance. “Sometimes we need these important dates (World Environment Day) to remind us about things,” she says.

What unfolds in the solo being presented by Bhoomija this time is not merely performance, but confrontation. Through bharatanatiyam’s stylised vocabulary, Malavika examines humanity’s fractured relationship with nature — the imbalance born of greed, industrialisation and reckless consumption. “It’s really talking about the planet as where we are living and saying, what are we going to do with this?” she reflects. “How far are we going to keep pushing things?” she asks.

The seed for Beeja Earth Seed was planted years ago in Landour. Walking through a forested trail in the hills, the celebrated danseuse encountered a sign fixed to a tree that read: I was once a seed that held its ground. The phrase stayed with her. “When I looked at that tree, it was this huge, magnificent, glorious tree,” she recalls. “So what is it to hold ground? What is it to stand for integrity? The tree is wise. It’s telling us so many things,” she explains.

Trees, she says, have long been recurring presences in her choreography — appearing, disappearing and re-emerging across several decades of work. But here, nature is no backdrop. It becomes protagonist, philosopher and witness. Unlike conventional narrative structures centred on human experience, Beeja Earth Seed shifts attention towards what the dancer calls ‘subaltern voices.’ A fawn and doe become emotional anchors. Birds, trees and creatures emerge with tenderness and agency. “The human being is always centre stage and takes the limelight,” she says. “I wanted to shift this and say, no, there’s another life out there,” she elucidates.

The production’s emotional architecture moves from harmony to rupture — from ecological balance into what Malavika calls, “the underbelly of avariciousness and greed.” The work demanded an entirely new movement vocabulary, especially when embodying what she terms the, ‘human monster.’ The figure she creates is grotesque and consuming — a metaphor for unchecked capitalism and environmental violence. “A monster that eats money, that’s our world,” she says quietly.

Yet if the themes are grave, the artistic ambition is exhilarating. The production merges live music with an ambitious 360-degree ambisonic soundscape, enveloping audiences within the sonic world of the performance. Developed alongside sound designer Sai Shravanam, the immersive design combines pre-recorded orchestration with live vocals and instrumentation by vocalist Krithika Aravind and mridangist Nellai Balaji.

The technical precision behind the work is staggering. Lighting by Niranjan Gokhale, narration and text by creative collaborator Sumantra Ghoshal; and a sprawling ensemble of recorded musicians all work in exact synchronisation with Malavika’s choreography.

What has surprised the dancer the most, however, is the response from audiences unfamiliar with classical dance, over the last year since its premiere. “They are gobsmacked,” she laughs. For longtime followers of her work, Beeja Earth Seed marks a striking artistic shift. Many ask where this new trajectory has emerged from. Her answer is simple: courage. “To dare to do something requires conviction,” she says.

Perhaps that conviction is what gives the production its extraordinary force. There are no elaborate props, no cinematic distractions, only the alchemy of body, imagination and space. “I imagine and I create it in space where there’s nothing and you see it,” she says. “It’s like magic!”

INR 500 onwards. June 6, 7 pm. At Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Konanakunte Cross.

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