Santosh Nair’s recently choreographed show was an excellent portrayal of forest life. By Utpal K Banerjee
Much, much before agriculture was born and technology was not even a distant dream, the deep, vast woods existed. With their numerous denizens of humans and animals, the habitat provided an organic bonding between flora and fauna; succour and nurture were a mutually-dependent phenomenon. Perhaps a distant glimpse is still available in the perennial forests of the Amazon Valley in the distant latin Americas, but the rest of the planet has perhaps already bidden adieu to such idyllic milieu. Or has itIJ
Mystical Forest, presented by Sadhya under the aegis of the ICCR, brought back a nostalgic echo of what the world has possibly lost for ever. A contemporary dance production based on Mayurbhanj Chhau — choreographed by the ace danseuse Santosh Nair — it was an excellent portrayal of what could have been, to the modern spectator, only an idyllic spectacle: creating from dawn to dusk the quintessential process of surviving, the life-cycle rituals of all extant beings and the sonorous resonance from the spheres celebrating an all-round vibrancy of sheer existence.
Slow music at the beginning wakes up earth — possibly with a prayer on its lips for its guardian gods. There is joy and playfulness, crawling on forest-floors and climbing on spirally creepers. The day advances, the five female deer traipse around in frolicsome steps, the four fiery hunters — carrying deadly spears — stalk them and eventually get squired with one but never more than one that is just enough for community eating. In the next scene, the rituals take over, masks are invoked, offerings made to the tribal divinities and then partaken. After food and merriment, it is the spontaneous time for getting close, for creating relationships and for advance towards mating: through many a charming pas de deux. Finally, there is sunset, the moment to hark back to the creators and replicating the day’s end as yet another day’s beginning.
In joyous environs, the corps du ballet — complete with highly-trained Carolina Prada from Columbia and already-teaching Gaura Prema from the USA — execute many chalis, with stylised entries and exits, along with nearly a dozen Indian compatriots. But the most exciting elements are the ulfis, the body-movement and locomotion that Mayurbhanj Chhau especially draws from the daily chores and life’s various experiences, appropriate for physical expression.
Says Upamannyu Bhanot, the brilliant music director, “I’ve cut out on melody, as the primeval setting does not allow for it too much. Instead, I’ve used a variety of percussions, including African drums, Chinese taiko and strains of voodoo music.” Interview with the choreographer:
What’s the philosophy of Mystical ForestIJ
It explores life within the forest with all its inhabitants. It attempts to draw from the dance vocabulary of Mayurbhanj Chhau with strong, grounded movements and contemporary interpretation. Various experiences, activities, emotions, rituals and celebrations of the inhabitants — related to their life within the forest — find expression.
What did you aim to achieveIJ
The production is an attempt to bring forth the natural and simple life of people living in the forest in an innovative way through its music, choreography, movement, lights and costumes. It travels from the divinity that they may be experiencing, to the various daily activities, to the playfulness, to the hunting, to the rituals that they may be performing and to the relationships that they would be having. In a nutshell, it defines their day from dawn to dusk.
Does it achieve its goalIJ
The production, without being too deliberate about it, somewhere makes one think…if only we could let this world (of the inhabitants of the forest) be as it is — simple, innocent, surviving with their natural habitat and let nothing disturb this natural existence.