Vidha lal’s recent choreography presented many shades of agni. She told Utpal K Banerjee about the significance of colours like red and orange and how they were depicted through Agni Gayatri mantra and other hymns
Fire (Agni) is perhaps the most illuminating and alluring element out of panchabhuta (five building blocks), constituting the entire cosmos. like every particle sustaining the creation, it has its own boon as well as bane. As boon, its presence in the eastern ethos instills auspiciousness, warmth and energy. In contrast, its bane can be all-consuming and destructive: lighting up the vision and taking the vision away. But does fire have its own inherent coloursIJ
Indeed, maps of burning fires around the world — based on imaging observations from NASA’s Terra Satellite — reflect vivid colours: based on the number (not size) of fires observed within a 1,000-square-kilometre area. White ‘pixels’ (picture-elements) show the high-end of the count: as many as 100 fires in a 1,000-square-kilometre area per day. Yellow pixels show as many as 10 fires; orange shows as many as five fires; and red areas as few as one fire per day. Dominant colours in fire-flames, too, change with temperature. Images of localised forest-fires exemplify this variation very well. Near the ground, where most burning occurs, the fire is white. The hottest colour possible for organic material, in general, is yellow. Above that region, the colour transforms to orange, which is cooler; then it is red, which is cooler still. Above the red region, combustion no longer occurs, and the un-combusted carbon particles are visible as black smoke.
Colours of Fire, presented recently by A-V Dance Company Kathak Resonance, were inspired by these natural nuances of fire. Choreographed by the gifted young danseuse, Vidha lal, the dance-drama brought forth hues of fire: depicting different moods and meanings. The choreography — done almost entirely in thoughtful abstraction — blossomed into myriad fire-flies by invoking vibrations of fire: mirrored in the bells on the anklets and resonating with the primordial Agni Sukta (Fire Hymn) from book one, hymn one of Rig Veda: I laud Agni, the chosen priest, God, minister of sacrifice, the giver, the lavisher of wealth.
From Agni Gayatri mantra, the stage was bathed in orange colour: maneuvering the delicate shades with a lit-up havan kunda (sacrificial fire-site) at the deep backstage. Next was black, automatically linked with mystery and magic, symbolising minimalism or perhaps termination. The effect of the residual was created by the whirls and gyrations: showing a way towards the end of everything, culminating into ashes. Then came the stentorian chanting of restoration, from among 140 names ascribed to Agni:
The colour red followed, with viewers’ imagination being propelled to compassion and serenity. It was expressional dance, for a change, based on saint Kabir’s doha (couplet): I’m burning in the fire of separation; I wander here and there, but my heart can’t find rest; I can’t even sit under the shadow of any tree, as the tree itself will catch fire. The finale was a breathtaking tryst with motion, to depict yellow: as the colour of fire that was most captivating and vigorous of all. The dancers performed at breath-taking speed to showcase padhants, bedam tihais and lightning spins. It was, on the whole, a very satisfying spectacle of the technical prowess of Kathak — especially that of Jaipur gharana — visualising into one of the most primal elements of nature.
Excerpts from interview with the choreographer:
How did you get the over-all ideaIJ
It needed a long gestation and at times, looked like a daunting task. Often, I became quite skeptical as to how I could do it. My guru gave me quiet guidance.
What was the main plank of your choreographyIJ
I was keen on creating the individual mood of fire’s colours: through the expanded grammar of my dance-vocabulary and even creating new imagery like thumping hand claps on the ground or the whole group simultaneously leaping into the air.
How was orange depictedIJ
I didn’t seek any fusion from outside Kathak. Agni Gayatri mantra was a great boost to imagination.
Did black, being absence of all colours, prove difficultIJ
Black ordinarily means nothing, a mystery by itself. I used two chhandas (rhymes), of seven-beat and eight-beat time cycles to show the magical mood of blue-black shade of fire.
How about red thenIJ
So far, we had used a surfeit of technical Kathak and I looked for some expressional lyrics. Kabir’s doha came nearest to suffering and compassion.
You ended on a pyrrhic note.
I pushed technical Kathak to the end of its capacity and used raga Darbari for this purpose. Darbari was used earlier also with a blend of Jaunpuri and Kirwani. But the grand finale was Darbari per excellence.