ATTINGALThe tired team of girls in white and blue glistening wear alighting from the backstage in a single glance conveyed that a power-packed performance on stage has wilted them.
They were students of Nirmala Bhavan Higher Secondary school in the city who had staged a dance based on the life and times of St Alphonsa during the group dance competition at the Revenue District School Arts Festival which is currently underway at Attingal. They emerged victorious in the group dance competition in Higher Secondary School section by presenting a different theme much to the delight of the teachers. The team has steered clear from the Thiruvananthapuram North sub-district level fest to compete in the Revenue District school arts festival with the support of a Lok Ayukta order.
‘’Our intention while selecting this theme was to do a moral story. We can’t understand what is wrong with it as we were speaking about the life of St Alphonsa who lived and died in Kerala,’’ said Karakulam Bijumon, who has devised and taught the dance item to students with the assistance of Jomet Arackal.
The dance was performed in the background of a song the lines of which portrayed a life-sketch of St Alphonsa beginning right from her birth that touched upon her devotion, passion and altruistic lifestyle and finally her demise. It is also appended by a message in the end against abuse against women.
‘’More than facing the rejection, it is the comments that pained us more. That we can’t reach the state level if the theme is carried forward again was one such. The theme was also termed as ‘Biblical’, and everyone knows that St. Alphonsa is not a character in Bible,’’ said a teacher in the school, who did not want to be named.
‘’In the sub-district level, two teams contested for group dance but we were not disqualified, much enough to believe that we did nothing wrong,’’ she added. Jyothish has penned the lyrics that was set to tune by Jayan. The entire dance was composed at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh.