Unique blend of verses & steps  

CHENNAI: It was an exciting evening for art lovers as they witnessed the best of poetry, more specifically Haiku along with Bharathanatyam on one stage. Confused? In a recent one-of-a-kind poetry event organised by Mocking Birds at Munch Café, Kilpauk, the audience saw the confluence of the two art forms presented by renowned Haiku poet Kala Ramesh and sought-after dancer Srekala Bharath.

As Kala, the poet who was bitten by the Haiku-bug in 2005, took to the stage, her Haikus represented four images — the life of a child, Banyan tree, Ganga and Kasturi. “Writing a Haiku involves condensing your thoughts and what you see in just eight words. And trust me… it’s not easy,” she explained. “Can you believe that a Haiku doesn’t use any adjectives? But that’s the appeal of Haiku! Calling a sunset beautiful and describing the view of what you see makes Haiku special,” gushed the author of the Haiku anthology Naad Anunaad.
Complementing the Haiku images and enthralling the audience through the traditional Bharathanatyam, Srekala’s dance on Chinnanjiru Killiye, Shanthi Nilava Vendum and a song offering ‘pranams to Ganga’, was the perfect imagery for poetry. “Kala Ramesh and I have been acquainted for so many years and when I received a call from her five days ago, I readily agreed to perform for the event. In three days, along with my students we prepared four sets that represent the four images. It’s a new and unique experience for me!” smiled the mentor-cum-performer. 

As the duo, linked and shifted into their own space, Kala Ramesh stated, “My Haikus are neither representing her dance nor is her dance representing my Haikus… it’s the way we represent the images in our own way and also on how we link and shift in our spaces,” shared the poet as she read a cluster of Haikus written by various writers.

While, the trend of writing Haikus has neither grown nor declined, Kala who is a visiting faculty at the Symbiosis International University, Pune, opines that a lot of students step away from writing Haikus as they have other electives to concentrate. “Only a handful of people step into the art full time. Others do it for the time being,” she shared. 

What’s does she think about the trend of writing ‘unrestricted poetry’? “I think writers should first learn the rules before they break it. Its only when you break you can find your own voice…but it’s necessary to first learn the rules and basics to be confident about your roots,” she explained.

Ishvar Krishnan, the organiser, was elated by the response for the event and shared that the idea of collaborating two art forms have always been on the cards and Kala fueled the idea further. “This event is first of its kind and we are very happy about the turn out. We were so excited about the concept that we decided to have it on a weekday instead of weekends,” he explained, “We’re planning to have similar performances with mime, theatre, music and so on,” he adds.