Classical Extravaganza

Tripti Arya, an entrepreneur who runs the NGO Arya Group Foundation, has grown up learning Kathak and found her calling in mastering Andhra Pradesh’s folk dance Kuchipudi. But after encountering ignorance to the art form in the city and a lack of enthusiasm regarding Indian classical dances in her children, Tripti felt a strong urge to bridge this disconnect. “I really wanted my children to be exposed to these art forms and understand that there have been people who have really given life to these art forms and have done nothing but promoting and evolve these dance forms,” she says. Hence, born out of a mother’s wish to transfer her love for Indian classical dance to her children, a new dance festival called Bhramara Festival hopes to reacquaint the young generation with six major classical dance forms from the country.

The two-day dance festival will see the young as well as the veteran exponents of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Mayurbhanj Chhau and Kathakali enthralling Mumbaikars with each performing a 30-minute set. For Tripti, these dancers are the torchbearers of India’s diverse cultural arts legacy that needs to be protected. “Their lives have been about promoting these dance forms, and I believe the young generation needs to respect  India’s such legacy and heritage,” she says. Moreover, the idea also sprouted with the need of breaking the monotony of an esoteric audience for these cultural arts, as she continues, “I just don’t want it to be promoted by the trained eye or the esoteric audience, I want it to be a larger audience who goes for these shows for the motivation in life; to think of something bigger and larger than yourself.”

Son of the Wind by Leela Dance Collective

While Bhramara itself is a Sanskrit-origin name of a mudra, Tripti’s decision to name the festival on the same encapsulates the essence of the festival. She enlightens, “I chose this particular mudra because it denotes bees and their dance to communicate with each other. For me, that was very exciting and that’s why I wanted the people to know.” The repertoire of the festival includes Leela by Arushi Mudgal and troupe, Son of the Wind by Leela Dance Collective, Radha Madhavam by Sadanam Balakrishnan and troupe, Sanjeevani by Parshwanath Upadhye, Tarangini by Avijit Das and troupe and Ramayan by Gurukul Chhau Dance Sangam. While the idea for the dance festival had already been conceptualised, it took months of ideation to design the festival to be true to the classical spirit, but also more approachable and relatable for its target audience of young generation. Hence, for the eclectic batch of performers, she along with the team chose relatively young people with the exception of the veteran Sadanam Balakrishnan. “I feel that when the audience itself is young and the artist is young, the conversations between them will hopefully be on another level where there will be more clarity and excitement,” she explains. Moreover, the organisers have also focused on communicating the evolution of the dance forms.

Avijit Das

Tripti also reveals that conventionally the dance pieces are longer ranging from one to two hours, but they limited each performance to 30 minutes set to provide a shorter introduction to the naïve audience. “Today’s audience, who don’t have a trained eye, I don’t think they have the patience to see one person perform for two and a half hours. And I feel when you do a shorter introduction to these dances; we make a bigger impact in today’s world,” she says.  

While the city is always buzzing with Classical dance shows, Tripti believes that to really sustain the traditional art forms, organisers need to change the way they present these arts. “I think we also need to change our way of presenting our art forms. The change comes from both sides,” she says. Avijit, a Kuchipudi dancer and teacher who is all set to perform a Tarangini about Kalinga Mardhanam, the subduing of a multi-headed serpent by Lord Krishna, is also of the same opinion. “If we can make it more relevant in today’s generation, definitely we can get a lot of audience to come and watch the shows. If you can’t understand what I am trying to say to you, then you are already detached. We have to have some contemporary thing with Indian classical technique, I think it will be very approachable and the audience can definitely enjoy and understand.”

The Bhramara Festival will be held at the Royal Opera House on January 19 and 20, from 4 pm  onwards.