Hanging by a Tale

Each puppet has a different story to tell. At Rajyashree Ramamurthi's home in Kharadi,they are all arranged neatly in a small box.

Each puppet has a different story to tell. At Rajyashree Ramamurthi’s home in Kharadi,they are all arranged neatly in a small box. Before every performance,she picks the most suitable one with utmost care. For the puppeteer and story-teller,these are her language tools. Recently,she addressed over 20 people for a workshop on the elements of storytelling. Organised by Rainbow Inc,an organisation which works for art therapy,the workshop was aimed at equipping teachers,theatre artists and therapists with puppetry skills.

For Ramamurthi,it was an opportunity to introduce her skills as a visual artist. I love being an educator, she says. “The story-telling medium invites you to delve into yourself. This medium is the original communication from which all other modes emanated. Story-telling involves both the individual as well as the group. This is what attracts me to it.”

Ramamurthi has worked with children for multicultural backgrounds for dance performances in the UK as well. Her recent dance performance – In The Light Of Irom Sharmila ,produced by GATI Dance Forum,Delhi – has won international acclaim. Her inclination towards using public spaces to drive home a point has given her work a refreshingly new outlook.

Recently,she presented a dance based on Delhi’s Nehru Place. Primarily known as a market for electronic goods,the dance tried to capture the spirit of the place and went beyond using it as a mere background. I collaborated with filmmaker Desmond Roberts to produce a six-minute,short screen dance work filmed on site at Nehru Place. It was a challenging project as we had three weeks to familiarise ourselves with the collaborator,the site and the vision for the piece. We spent hours at the site,” she says. They ended up creating a choreomentary a documentary with a strong choreographic motif. “It is a choreographed observation of Nehru Place, she says.

She is also teaching puppetry at Aman Setu school,Wagholi. Its a creative boon. All the techniques that I share in the workshops,I practice at the school, she says.

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