Sarvam Foundation's latest production Parkaya is an amalgamation of Odissi, Kathak and Bharatnatyam. Organiser Nehha Bhatnagar tells Iknoor Kaur that her attempt is to expand the boundaries of classical dance
All Indian classical dances are considered rigid and strict. A miss here and a mix up there, is like committing a sin. But what if these dances were mixed and yet retained their soulsIJ Renowned Odissi, Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancers Prerana Shrimali, Rama Vaidyanathan and Madhavi Mudgal decided to do just that in a programme called Parkaya. Spread over three days, Parkaya has been organised by Sarvam Foundation and will be held in India Habitat Centre, starting today. “The event will enable the dancers to transcend the body of their dances to enter that of another — a massive leap in empathising and sensitising ourselves towards celebrating diversities and embracing differences,” said organiser Nehha Bhatnagar.
She added, “Parkaya is a unique classical dance event where the dancers work for each other and choreograph for each other. That doesn’t mean that the Odissi dancer will do Bharatanatyam or vice versa. But what she will do is a varnam from Bharatanatyam choreographed by a Bharatanatyam dancer, but in the body of Odissi. Similarly she will do the thumri from Kathak choreographed by a Kathak dancer, but in the body of Odissi. So, they will do three signature pieces, one on each day. The highlights will be pallavi from Odissi, thumri from Kathak and varnam from Bharatanatyam and all three will do them. Today Prerana Shrimali will perform Odissi followed by Rama Vaidyanathan doing Bharatanatyam and Madhavi Mudgal doing Kathak tomorrow and day after.”
According to Nehha this is the first time that something like this has been done. She said, “What has happened a lot of times is jugalbandi where for example a Kathak dancer does Bharatanatyam but choreographs it herself. But what has not happened before is that a Kathak dancer does Bharatanatyam that has been choreographed by a Bharatanatyam dancer and done from the viewpoint of Kathak. It is almost unheard of.”
She credits the concept to Rama Vaidyanathan. “My idea was to just put it together, but it was Rama Vaidyanathan who actually thought about this a couple of years back and brought it to the table now through me,” she shared.
Though the event sounds close to fusion dance, Nehha disagrees. “This is not fusion. They are working to imbibe the thought processes and ideas from each other to push the boundaries of our own classical art forms,” she explained. Putting the whole event together was a big task, said Nehha. “It was very difficult to get these three artistes on board at the same time. Then for Sarvam it was difficult to sell this idea to the sponsors and get a decent venue because people were extremely skeptical about this concept,” she added.