HYDERABAD: It’s not just in folk tales of Princess Vasilisa and magical castles with onion-shaped domes that people remember Russia and other countries that were once part of the USSR. Sometimes it takes live performances for the audience to catch a glimpse of the cultural lives of people of the Caucasian region. Their stories open corolla-like when one gets to watch their traditional dance performances. Dance, as they say, is an imitation of nature’s rhythm. Vainakh, a Chechen dance group from Russia, on a cultural trip to India, performed at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium recently. The group of 42 Chechen artistes enthralled the audience taking one and all to their mountainous villages through melodious tunes and sinuous steps.
Organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), India’s external cultural relations body in association with Russian department of culture, the performance received a standing ovation from the audience. And the artistes earned that through their electric movements, flawless timing which blended silk-like with the folk music of the region dominated by loud and slow beats of mountain drums. The mix of the energy shifted vigorously to the piece titled ‘Mountain People’ which saw men in traditional tunics and breeches, who gyrated their bodies with such high-voltage speed that it was difficult to believe that they were humans and not dancing on powered batteries. In one of the choreographed compositions, it was quite spectacular to see male dancers rotating the instrument just on one finger, balancing it swiftly enough to get in the groove of the dance of mountains. They quickly passed on the drums to each other without even blinking, winning the applause of the audience once again.
The star composition of the evening was the Dagger Dance, a dangerous performance which requires extreme care, flawless balance and years of expertise. Artiste Abu Damiel Khan was flamboyant as he balanced the daggers sometimes on his forehead, sometimes on his lips with startling speed. He went on dancing with a swiftness seen rarely when a dancer also has to make a dangerous weapon his dance companion. He shared, “I have started practising this form of art recently. It demands a lot of discipline and immense control of movements. But you have to love it to do it.” Dagger dance is an 800-year-old tradition of Chechnya, practised even today by keen dancers who are passionate to keep the practice alive.
It was a breathtaking view to see female dancers clad in traditional Chechen dress which is a floor-length full-sleeved gown made of silk and other diaphanous cloth.
They danced with much grace as their movements told the organic Chechen folklore. The Georgian Wedding Dance called Qartuli saw feather-like movements making the entire set-up seem like part of a fairy-tale. The discipline with which the dancers performed seemed effortless thanks to their rigorous practice, studies on Chechen folk dance under the guidance of art director Akhmadov Ramzan, a man with grey eyes. He melts into a smile and shares, “I am associated with this group for the past 47 years. It completes 80 years in 2019, and we plan to celebrate it in a big way.” Formed in 1939 the creative graph of Vainakh has travelled up earning honours like the Order of the first President of the Chechen Republic, the Order of the Star of Jordan, the Prize from the Government of the Russian Federation, among several other honours. Needless to say they deserve the awards.
— Saima Afreen
saima@newindianexpress @Sfreen