The legend of Devi Kanniyakumari will be brought to life through a dance drama, Sri Devi Kanniyakumari Charithram.The production will feature 43 child artistes along with a live orchestra.
CHENNAI: When Premnath, the dance faculty at Rukmini Devi Natyashetra foundation visited Kanyakumari in 2013, he stumbled upon the theme for his fourth Natya Nadagam (dance theatre) production — a story based on ‘Devi Kanniyakumari’ popularly known as Mukuthiamman. After having staged the dance drama once in 2015, Premnath and his students are gearing up to perform again at the 14th Kala Sampada, an art festival curated by the institution — but this time, he says, it’s going to be bigger.
Narrating his experience on choreographing the routine for the two-and-a-half hour repertoire, Premnath recalls where it started. “It was during an unofficial visit to Kanyakumari. During my stay there, I had visited an ATM and saw a black and white picture of Devi Kanyakumari plastered there. Such an unusual place to see the picture! She was depicted as a very young and beautiful girl,” he recollects.
The very next day he decided to visit the famous Bhagavathy shrine and was smitten by the beauty of it. Intrigued by the ‘Sthala Purana’ of the place, he decided to read up on the history of the temple. Premnath says, “I bought a book and was enchanted with the story of how the Asuras fell in love with the Devi. That’s when I decided to bring this on stage.”
Adding concepts, stories and anecdotes from the residents to information gathered from the book, Premnath began choreographing the routine. However, it happened along with the lyrics and music. “The lyrics have been penned by Va Ve Su, and the music has been composed by Radha Venkataraman. Many people think that choreography comes after the first two processes are complete, but it doesn’t work that way. Choreography happens hand-in-hand with the lyrics and music; this adds flavour to the performance.” he shares. After seven months of work that included consulting historians and researchers, the dance was staged by students from the institution in 2015. The programme was a huge hit and since then, the troupe has improved the production quality in costumes, choreography and techniques. They have now added silambam and kalari to the performance as well.
The institution’s previous productions include Arupadai Veedu, Andal Puranam and Azhagar Kuravanji. “We focus on fostering traditional arts in young children. So, most of the performers are between the age of seven and 14. It’s not a professional troupe, but their performance will definitely take the audience to a different world!” smiles Premnath.The production will have 43 young artists on stage along with a 10-member live orchestra.
The dance drama will be held at Krishna Gana Sabha on April 23 at 5 pm. For details, call 9840187553, 9840186169