After yet another satisfying performance at the Chinmaya Mission near Washington DC in the USA, Yaksha Manjusha Director Vidya Kolyur invited hundreds of children in the audience to hug the adorable characters whom they had watched performing Panchavati Yakshagana in Hindi. The children scrambled for the Yakshagana artistes who had captivated their minds. The scene of children experiencing a part of the fantasy world of Yakshagana was the defining moment of their USA tour, vouched all the 10 members of Yaksha Manjusha.
The 70-day-tour that criss-crossed the eastern and western coasts of America, is historical on several counts. The only team led by a woman also became the first full-fledged Yakshagana team to have ever visited the USA. Yaksha Manjusha also became the first ever team to have performed 13 Yakshaganas in Hindi and Kannada on the American soil.
Ever since she set up the Yaksha Manjusha in 1994—when she was just 16, Vidya wanted to expand the audience for coastal Karnataka’s opera theatre. Learning the basics of art under the tutelage of her father Kolyur Ramachandra Rao—himself a towering performer, she groomed herself to emerge as a successful organiser, performer and innovator.
Yaksha Manjusha, empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), has presented over 600 shows and is the only team to have performed in 19 states. Vidya is driven by a conviction that Yakshagana—with a history of seven centuries, can be adapted to any Indian language. So, she introduced the art to different linguistic communities.
Impressed by her efforts to uphold values of Yakshagana, American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) Director Purushottam Bilimale got the Association of Kannada Kootas of America to invite Yaksha Manjusha for the three-day World Kannada Convention held in Atlanta from August 31 to September 2 this year. Vidya grabbed the offer with both hands, and together with SK Bhat began networking with US-based organisations keen on staging Yakshagana programmes. When the itinerary was fixed, Vidya sought financial assistance from the ICCR which reciprocated by sponsoring to-and-fro flight tickets worth `14 lakh for the troupe.
The costumes for the group’s performances were designed in cotton fabric by noted designer Devakane Krishna Bhat. “The contrasting colours of cotton costumes and the glittering costume jewellery worn by the artiste is a visual treat to the eyes,” asserts Vidya. And with all that, the Yakshagana Prasanga on Panchavati, in Thenkuthittu style in Kannada language, literally swept the audience at the conference in Atlanta.
During all the shows—including four ticketed shows at Los Angles, Portland, New Jersey and San Francisco—the audience expressed their appreciation. At every programme, Vidya had arranged for the display of English subtitles with the aid of projectors to help second-generation American-Indians grasp the meanings.
The tour was also a learning experience for them, Vidya informs. The team had two lecture demonstrations without costumes to a 100-member audience in Boston and Portland. On the invitation of their host—Shankar and his students in Portland, they attempted a fusion of mrudungam, classical style and Yakshagana with narration in English. The team also demonstrated Talamaddale-form of Yakshagana at Henry Dante’s house in Richmond.
Happy with the response, the Chinmaya Mission has invited Yaksha Manjusha to organise a six-week Yakshagana workshop for children in January.
