BENGALURU: Based on Kalidasa’s ‘Ritusamhara’, a group of dancers in the city will be presenting an Odissi performance on how animals, birds and people deal with summer heat.
The dance production Grisma Geetham will be presented by Sanjali Centre for Odissi Dance. It is choreographed and conceptualised by a noted Odissi danseuse Sharmila Mukerjee.
She says, “Grisma is one of the seasons described in Kalidasa’s Ritumsamhara. It is poetic and very descriptive. It could get boring. Hence, I chose seven stanzas and converted into dance with lots of varieties in it.”
Holding it relevant to the present times, she says, “I always wanted to do something related to environment...the effect of global warming. Bengaluru was lot cooler earlier. It became an appropriate time to do this season. There’s no message about environment, but this is what triggered the idea. The performance shows how animals, birds, men and women deal with the heat. It shows how animals are in search of water and how trees are getting dry in summer.”
Despite the heat and lethargy, summer is the time when strange friendships flourish between animals. She adds, “Peacock and snake who are known to be enemies become friends. Snakes crawl under the feathers of peacocks for shade.”
The season also brings cool moonlit evenings. Women dab themselves with cool sandalwood paste and fragrant cosmetics on their disheveled hair. Sharmila says, “It’s not erotica though it has some shringara in it and also, there’re some scenes such as women bathing, dressing up and enjoying music and dance on moonlit terraces with men, on one end. But the focus is on how each species deals with summer.”
Summer is also when you see beautiful hues of orange and red emanating from the rays of the sun. “Hence, the costumes are also bright in the lines of orange and red. When you think of the summer sun, you think of these colours. Sun is hottest during this time.”
The entire 20-minute production took about eight to ten months to complete. Sharmila says, “I read the entire ‘Ritusamhara’ and the seasons described in them. I worked along with my scriptwriter. While I was reading them with translations in English and getting to understand its meanings, I could translate it into dance movements immediately.”
The music was recorded in the beginning of February this year. “Each stanza has a different raga and tala. There’s lot of variety in it, in terms of music, dance movements and also concepts. I chose the stanzas that seemed challenging to me. The hot wind blowing through the trees and burning its leaves, through lot of free flow movements using a lot of space which is not typical Odissi,” she says and clarifies, “But it’s not contemporary.”
Enjoy Grisma Geetham by a six-member ensemble on April 28 at Seva Sadan, Malleswaram at 6.30 pm.