Sonal Mansingh’s dance-drama will stage stories from the Indian and Greek mythologies. While the danseuse will focus on classical dance forms, choreographer Sandip Soparrkar and his troupe will add the latin touch. By Divya Kaushik
In Indian mythology, Shiva and Shakti or Shiva and Parvati represent masculine and feminine powers responsible for creation of this universe. Similarly in Greek mythology union of Gaia, Earth goddess and Uranus, the Sky god, resulted in the birth of the Titans, a primeval race of powerful deities. If you study the two mythologies you will realise that there are many similar stories. The names of the Gods might differ but they all speak of love, trust and togetherness. Sonal Mansingh deeply studied and researched the Indian and Greek cultures and thought of putting together a dance-drama that narrates a few episodes from the Indian and Greek mythologies. While Sonal and her disciples will present Indian stories in various classical dance forms, choreographer Sandip Soparrkar and his troupe will present the Greek tales through Tango, Rumba, Cha-Cha and some contemporary street dances in the programme, When The Gods Meet, at Kamani Auditorium on November 27.
“Myths and legends are integral part of any civilisation. They depict and symbolise the legacy of values and traditions of those cultures. Two ancient civilisations with similarities in their mythologies are the Indian and Greek. I have strung together selected episodes from the two cultures. This production establishes commonalities between two civilisations and unravels the deeper philosophy behind mythologies around the same time though far apart geographically,” explained Mansingh, who conceptualised the dance-drama and approached Sandip Soparrkar to add contemporary element to the performance. The choreographer who is known for his expertise in latin American dance forms said that it was for the first time that contemporary dance forms were used for storytelling on stage. “No matter how popular contemporary dance forms are, it is thought that they can be only used for entertainment on stage. We are trying to change the common perception and presenting it with the classical to inform people on how they can be used for storytelling, too. But it was not easy. In classical dance forms, there are mudras and expressions that work well to explain the emotions in the story. Such is not a case in contemporary dance forms. So I have to research and think of ways by which we can narrate stories,” shared Soparrkar.
The first episode will be of Krishna-Kaaliya. Kaaliya, the deadly Cobra King poisoned river Yamuna killing all forms of living creature. The episode has Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu taking on the cobra in a feisty battle subduing him and restoring ecological balance. Then will be the Greek story of Psyche and Eros. Upset with Psyche’s beauty, Aphrodite (Goddess of Beauty) asked her son Eros (God of love) to shoot one of his arrows of love at Psyche. While unwillingly obeying her orders, Eros became mesmerised by sleeping Psyche’s beauty.
He accidentally poked himself with the arrow, and fell hopelessly in love with Psyche. After marriage, incited by her jealous sisters, Psyche held up a lantern on sleeping Eros to ascertain that he was a God indeed. A drop of hot oil awakened Eros who left her. “It shows how distrust can spoil relationships. It is the story of Cupid, who we know as the God of love. Not many know how he fell in love and them lost it,” commented Soparrkar.
“The third story will be of king Bhasmasura, who acquired a boon from Shiva, the power to burn anything into ashes by putting his right hand on it. When he tried to test it on Shiva himself, Vishnu took the form of ‘Mohini’ and enticed him to a dance competition. In the course of frenzied dancing, Mohini made Bhasmasura place his right hand on his own head, thus burning him to ashes. It teaches how arrogance leads to destruction. It will be followed by the Greek story of Zeus, king of Gods who fell in love with Europa, the beautiful human princess. Zeus took the shape of a magnificent white bull, enticed Europa and abducted her. He later revealed his identity and made Europa the first queen of Crete. Before returning to Mt Olympus, Zeus gave his necklace to Europa which created bull pattern in the galaxy of stars. Even today it is recognised as the constellation Taurus,” shared Sonal.
The drama will conclude with the marriage of Shiva and Parvati and union of Gaia and Uranus.