KOCHI: Canada-based Sampradaya Dance Creations’ founder, and prominent danseuse, Lata Pada is often referred to as phoenix by her friends and students. Having lost her husband and two daughters to the explosion of Air India 182 in June 1985, Lata rose from the depths of what she describes to be unspeakable pain and despair, to embrace her love for dance. “Dance became that singular lifeline I clung to. My slow and painful return to normalcy was made possible by plunging into it,” says Lata. Founded in 1990, Sampradaya mirrors its art director’s belief that dance possesses the undeniable power to be an agent of change. The institution is all set to celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.
Over the years, Sampradaya has established itself as an eminent South Asian dance company in North America. It espouses bharatanatyam and fuses it with contemporary performance styles. Its latest inter-cultural rendition, Pralaya, is a confluence of evolved bharatanatyam, Balinese dance and Topeng mask dance.
Conceptualised by Lata Pada and distinguished Balinese choreographer Dr I Wayan Dibia, the performance is all set to be staged for the first time in the city at Kerala Fine Arts Hall, in association with Dharani School of Performance Art on December 20. Based on the Indian epic Mahabharatha, Pralaya narrates the story of the great devastation resulting from a deluge post the mythological war of Kurukshetra. For Lata, the universal and timeless message of the epic is an important one.
“Dr Wayan Dibia and I wanted to create a piece that was a commentary on today’s world, where humanity has lost its capacity to nurture resources. We wanted to use art to imagine the possibility of peace and harmony for future generations. Mahabharatha was a natural choice, revered both in India and Indonesia,” comments the performer. The performance has been touted as ‘a contemplation of humanity’s propensity to push to the brink of extinction’.
The 70-minute recital which premiered in 2016 is performed by five bharatanatyam and five Balinese dancers. “The groundwork for the language movement that would develop from both dance traditions was laid in 2014 along with background score, visual projection and costume design. In 2016, the dancers met in Bali for three weeks to work on the choreography.
To an untrained eye, there are many similarities between the two styles—in the neck and eye movements and a few bits of the embellishments and costume. But for trained artists, it is an introduction to a completely new movement syntax, the position of arms, use of space and others. The collaborative process was exciting and new discoveries were made,” adds Latha. The troupe, which is touring the country, has performed in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata so far. Their last show is scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram on December 22.