CHENNAI: Under the glow of the waxing moon with the planet Venus gently trailing the crescent — a stage emerges, cradled by lush green trees and caressed by soft, refreshing winds, a welcome departure from the usual sultry mornings. The scene is set for a gathering of 75, with sleek LED screens and glass chairs arranged. This serene ambiance serves as the backdrop for Margazhi - The Rasa Edit, an evening hosted by Kanakavalli, a city-based clothing store, in collaboration with Aalaap, a boutique art consulting and management company. The event unfolds on a breezy Friday, inviting guests to immerse themselves in an evocative experience.
“Rasa means a sense. In the context of classical dance, rasa is the interaction between an artiste and their audience. The exchange of what the artiste is trying to communicate gets communicated to an audience, that is the feeling of rasa, says Akhila Krishnamurthy, founder of Aalaap. With this edit, the team attempts to showcase arts in an alternate space to cultivate and nurture new audiences “from other disciplines such as architecture, animation, and design, moving away from the traditional sabha performances and rasikas,” she adds.
Concurring, Ahalya, founder and CEO of Kanakavalli, says, “I think taking art to different audiences is really important. Art in whatever form — music, dance, painting, or anything — brings out a certain introspection, which is nice. Otherwise, it’s so easy to get absorbed in your everyday life, and not explore anything outside your experience or thoughts. I think that is what is lovely about art forms.”
The edit was also created to provide opportunities to “artistes from outside of Chennai. This cross-cultural exchange is important because dancers in the city should see what dancers from Bombay, Delhi, and Pune are performing and vice-versa and they are responding to each other’s work. This kind of dialogue is essential,” shares Akhila.
In nature’s company
This first performance — by Nilava Sen from Kolkata and Prachi Saathi from Mumbai — held outdoors at Kanakavalli, kickstarted this Margazhi season’s celebration in the city. “It is a charm that you are in Chennai during December and watching performances outdoors. This is the time of the year when the weather is cool and that elevates the experience,” says Ahalya.
Calling himself “blessed” to be performing in Chennai, Nilava, an Indian contemporary dancer says, “Chennai is crazy. It is a city that constantly thinks about arts and holds performances from the morning to dusk. Not only the whole city but the world — performers from abroad — come together and celebrate art. I got the opportunity to be a small part of this and I am blessed.” His performance was a work based on a pathway between Uday Shankar Technique and Sufism, finding God’s existence. The work is called ‘Entheos’.
In this dance, the protagonist tries to find what God truly means to him. “Not the god this society has taught him — in temples, structure, or human form — but he’s trying to find what, where and who is God,” explains Nilava. The seed of this production came from Baul Minstrels and Sufism, where they both believed that God resides within. The session left the audience introspecting their understanding of God.
The evening’s second and last performance was Prachi Saathi’s ‘When Walls Dance’. Her work is an entry point for newer audiences to Bharatanatyam. She hopes to reach a younger audience. The performance blends Warli Art, Bharatanatyam, music and animation to narrate the tale of Champa, a girl from the Warli tribe and her beloved Champa Tree. The work is a collaboration between dancer Prachi Saathi, visual animation and scenography by Upasana Nattoji Roy, research by Rajendra Chaudhari, and music by Swapnil Chapekar and Satish Krishnamurthy.
Prachi has always lived closely with the Warli tribe and understands their customs and traditions. “It is a living tradition.
The tribe have their own music, rituals, instruments, costumes and live closely with nature. And now, these tribes face extinction because of urbanisation and industrialisation,” she explains. One of the tribe’s rituals is to plant a tree when a child is born in the community and they grow together. She says with this practice we can learn about nature and plant trees. “This is a sustainable practice instead of saving and planting hundreds of trees once in a long time.” The venue was an add-on to her performance. She adds, “The outdoors is so beautiful, hopeful and all-encompassing because the performance is about trees and the place is surrounded by so many of them.” Prachi believes her performance to have an impact on the audience, especially during Margazhi. Akhila says, “Chennai celebrates Margazhi anywhere and everywhere in many formats.”
‘The Margazhi Rasa Edit’ is happening every Friday of the month. Catch up on Eesha Pinglay and Swarada Bhave’s Putanaa at 6.30 pm and Mahima Gulechha’s Kaal-Taal at 7.15 pm on December 13,
Vandana Srinivasan’s The Madras Mehfill at 6.30 pm and Gurupriya Atreya and Vedanth Bharadwaj’s Sing a Lullaby at 8 pm on December 20 and Mavin Khoo’s curation: Varnamala at 6.30 pm on December 27 at Kingsley Chennai.