Perceptions at War
Delhi-based artiste Savitha Sastry brings Yudh,a fusion of theatre and dance
3 min read
Ironically,the great Persian poet Rumi,who made art from words,often expressed his discontent over the limited scope of language while communicating his deepest emotions. This is how it always is when I finish a poem. A great silence overcomes me and I wonder why I ever thought to use language,he laments in The Thirsty Fish. Languages objectivity has often pushed artists to use other media to express the inexpressible. For Delhi-based Savitha Sastry,the preferred medium is Bharatanatyam.
Sastry,who will stage her theatre dance act Yudh at Bal Gandharva Rangmanch on July 6 at 7.30 pm,believes that dance exists to entertain the audience without compromising on aesthetics and intelligence. The act should be unfettered of the shackles of religion,mythology or any element that tends to draw a box around it, she says.
With Yudh,she will try to explain the faculty of understanding an issue from three perspectives those of Satan,God and human beings. Satans perspective is that of a seductress; God depends on humans to wage a war against Satan. And humans have multiple perspectives,depending on who colours them better God or Satan, explains Sastry,adding that this is her second performance in the city.
The story was conceptualised by Sastrys husband and producer AK Srikanth,with whom she worked on the play. Together,they decided on the feel of the music and lighting required for the play. We roped in music director Rajkumar Bharati,whose compositions are grounded in ragas,which have been tweaked to give the productions sound an international feel, says Sastry. The stage lighting has been orchestrated by Victor Paulraj,whom Sastry calls a lighting wizard and her vibrant costumes have been designed by CA Joy and Arun Tiwari.
The audience could expect a theatrical treat from this act,she says. Sastry uses voice-overs,props,expressive costumes and above all her dance to communicate the essence of the concept. In Yudh,like her other productions,audio-visuals accompaniments have been used in a manner,which according to Sastry,is only comparable to lighting which is seen in Western theatre. Yudh has been staged in several Indian cities and the US earlier this week. After Pune,we will take it to other Indian cities and Sri Lanka she says.
Trained in Bharatanatyam,Sastry has taken the dance form to several countries. Bharatanatyam has a degree of sophistication and very wide array of movement and mime that makes it extremely well equipped to deliver any story says Sastry,who began fusing Bharatanatyam with theatre in 2010. Having toured the world,she has been inspired by contemporary dance,ballet and native African dance forms,yet her routines stay firmly rooted in Bharatanatyam,to which she has been loyal since the age of six.
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