The nimbleness of nature, the poetry of emotions, the reach of the mind, the hope for evolution, and above all, a pursuit for joy that transcends earthly pleasures — Rabindranath Tagore’s art and work encapsulated all these. His music, poetry, stories, thoughts, and the school he founded reflected this attitude.
Recreating this philosophy in dance would mean understanding the essence of his ideas and translating them into movements. In this, Tagore himself led by example by choreographing a dance form that matched the flowing comfort of his music, Rabindra Sangeet.
On August 8, this finesse would be recreated as the Dancers Guild, Kolkata, teams up with Kochi-based contemporary dancer Arunima Gupta to present some of Tagore’s emphatic works under the title of ‘Tagore Soiree’.
Described as an immersive experience through dance, Tagore Soiree will feature TagoreScape, which will interpret ‘Songs of the season’ from ‘Gitanjali’ through contemporary dance and its aesthetics.
The soiree also includes ‘Tomar Matir Kanya’, a reimagining of Tagore’s famed dance drama ‘Chandalika’, whose storyline is of how a woman from a downtrodden caste finds herself awakened as she meets Ananda, a Buddhist monk. This work has sparked similar literature in several Indian languages. Kumaranasan’s ‘Chandalabhikshuki’ is an example.
While TagoreScape is conceived by Arunima and is presented by her team, ‘Tomar Matir Kanya’ is being presented by the Dancers’ Guild, of which Arunima was a part for a long time.
The entire soiree is her tribute to her mentors who introduced her into the world of contemporary style, Navanritya. From then till the time she shifted base to Kochi, the fluid movements of Navanritya, developed by Manjusree Chaki Sircar, have defined her art.
Manjusree, who trained Arunima in the 1980s, was a forerunner in contemporary dancing in India. Her approach to dance marked a shift in the way the genre was envisaged by Rabindranath Tagore himself and then by veterans like Uday Shankar.
Manjusree, an academic whose views on humanism were as radical as her thoughts on dance, took it a notch further than Shankar. She, along with Chandralekha, Kumudini Lakhia, and Mrinalini Sarabhai, redefined the role of the body as a tool for expression.
Yet Manjusree’s Navanritya is different, because while the other three experimented with just one or two genres of classical dance, she stretched it further, bringing in elements of Bharatanatyam, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Kathakali, Odissi, Kathak, and martial art forms such as Kalaripayattu and Thang-Tha of Manipur, into her variation. It also has elements of Mayurbhanj Chau and the sweep and suave of Western classical dancing.
“I consider initiation into this style my turning point. Of course, my basic lessons in classical dancing helped. However, Navanritya gave my art a perspective,” Arunima says, who finished her training and joined the Dancers’ Guild, originally set up by Manjusree in 1983. The guild is now internationally acclaimed, with an empanelled membership with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, for their flagship productions reinterpreting Tagorean dance style and works. ‘Tomar Matir Kanya’ is one of its most popular productions, famous especially for its tunnel component.
“To me, the Tagore Soiree is a tribute not just to Tagore but to Manjusree and her daughter Ranjabati. The inclusion of the performance by Dancers’ Guild is part of my dedication to them,” Arunima says.
In Kochi for over two decades, Arunima recreated the magic that she carried from her Kolkata days — setting up the dance school The Floor, her studio, grooming several talents, curating several aesthetic stagings, including Kochi’s first and unique contemporary dance festival ‘DanceA’fair’, and more.
TagoreScape was one such initiative, where works of the poet-philosopher are translated into flowing movements of dance.
At the Tagore Soiree, her own choreography, Songs of the Season, would bring forth the changing natural cycles of life through the poetry of dance.
“Contemporary dance uses the entire body for communication, unlike classical dance, where it is about disciplined use of the body. Here, however, the entire body is used in a symphonious manner. The language thus conveyed transports both the dancer and the audience to a soothing, sensitive soulspace,” she says.
At the event, dance researcher and Jadavpur University professor Aishika Chakraborty, who also trained under Manjusree in Navanritya style, would introduce Tagore’s legacy.
Tagore’s eclectic poetry and simple philosophy can be well explained by the freedom of uninhibited yet sensitive movements of the human body, as envisaged by the free spirit and radical thinker that the Nobel Laureate-bard was, Arunima says, inviting both Tagore and dance enthusiasts to the Chavara Cultural Centre on Friday, August 8, for the soiree.
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