Performing Mohiniyattam before a group exposed only to fast-paced dance was the first challenge Aishwarya Warrier faced when she set out to popularise Mohiniyattom in Gujarat.
Right from her debut performance, Aishwarya, who has devoted her life to Mohiniyattam, has been doing everything she can to build a base for Kerala’s own art form in Gujarat.
After creating awareness through workshops, lectures and performances, Aishwarya has been imparting Mohiniyattam lessons to Gujaratis and
Malayalis there through her dance schools - Nrityodhaya School of Classical Dance in Vadodara and Vapi - besides performing across the country with her disciples.
The artist recently enthralled the art lovers in her hometown at Kozhikode with her graceful movements and heart-touching expressions at the ‘Rasavikalpam’ dance festival organised by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi. Through soulful movements, she told the world about the pathetic state of river Ganga, criticizing human activities for the deed.
“Winning a space for Mohiniyattam amongst the speedy dance forms such as folk dance, Kathak and Bharatanatyam which are popular in Gujarat, was really a challenge. I was even skeptical on the audience’s acceptance when I performed Mohiniyattam for the first time at a temple there. But I gained confidence when a few children came running to me to learn Mohiniyattam soon after the performance. And now, the people there love this rhythmic, emotive and slow-paced dance form. For the Malayalis there, it is a way to reconnect with the culture, while the beauty of the dance form has attracted the locals there. My first disciple to go for an ‘arangettam’ was a Gujarati,” says Aishwarya.
An empanelled artist in the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Gujarat State Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Aishwarya has been showcasing group performances with her disciples apart from solo performances across the country to further popularise it. She was even awarded the ‘Kalasree Puraskar’ by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi for taking the art form beyond the borders of the state.
“I have started incorporating Sanskrit lyrics apart from Malayalam for the performances to make more reach,” says the artist.
Though brought up in Mumbai, Aishwarya inherited a passion for dance from her mother, a trained dancer, and started learning Mohiniyattam at a very young age itself. “For me, dancing has always been my life and Mohiniyattam a tool to communicate my thoughts and ideas. I had my basic dance lessons from my mother Sreebala Menon then I started learning it from Udyogamandal Vikraman. Whatever that touches my heart, I communicate it through Mohiniyattam rather than presenting mythological stories or literature alone. The presentation on River Ganga was such a composition that presented my concern on the environmental issue. I have also portrayed the present state of women in society through the character Shakunthala of Kalidasa’s ‘Abhyana Shakunthalam,” she says.
She also experiments with the costumes of the dance forms in her performances and had gone for glittering white jewellery and white saree with green glittering borders for the performance on Ganga. “When it comes to a performance on a single character, I go out of traditional costumes and designs something unique for the character,” she says.
Meanwhile, she says that she loves to perform in Kerala which imparts her nostalgic feeling.
“Performing in Kerala is always something special for me. I comeback often to rejuvenate myself from the talented artists here and to share my experiences to the young dancers,” she says.