CHENNAI: Bharatanatyam dancer Krithika Subramanian’s recital this weekend will be both common and uncommon. Common because the presentation will have elements of the traditional margam, and uncommon as it will be a non-stop presentation with no announcements and nothing being said about the pieces, before they begin.
Through Nava, Krithika aims to demystify the thought that everything has to be broken down to the lowest common denomination to the audience so that they understand the dance recital. She feels that explaining a dance will make them less educated about the dance form and also that is not the best way to bring arts to the masses. “It will be a non-stop programme where all the items have been woven in such a way that the audience will not know where one piece ends and the next one begins. But if the rasikas watch the whole recital, they would know what is being performed. I will not be talking about the ragam, talam and the composer of any of these pieces,” says Krithika.
This is not the first time Krithika is doing something different. She has done a production called NaMargam where she questions the concept of a margam. Performances of her troupe would have the traditional alarippu, varnam, padam and thillana. The purpose, she says, is to stage it in an opera format and let the audience enjoy the expressions and foot work. “I have watched Italian operas. I managed to understand them by noting the expressions. If my nritta (pure feet movements) and abhinaya (expressions) are strong, the audience will not need verbal explanation. Dance is a way of expression and it does not need words to express what is being done on stage,” she says. Four other dancers will be part of this presentation alongside Krithika.
She also plans to take questions from the audience at the end of the performance as she believes that they should ask more questions when it comes to performing arts.
Krithika Subramanian will be performing today at Kartik Fine Arts and tomorrow at Brahma Gana Sabha. Both events start at 6.30 pm.