A Day in the Life of Nrityagram

A Day in the Life of face and eyes, and the graceful, sinuous, triple- sideward curve of the dancing torso. Nritya - Nrityagram gram dancers sustain a fierce dedication to ex - cellence in the practice of their art – odissi dance, a classical Indian dance form derived Karen Greenspan from the sculpted friezes, depicting dance as worship, that adorn the ancient Hindu tem - Like a tribal council of ancients sitting around ples of Odisha (an eastern coastal state in In - a fire, the artists of Nrityagram encircle the dia). empty space in the studio to reenact the alle - The ensemble of musicians from Mumbai gorical tale Dasavataar – The Ten Incarnations has just arrived for a four-day concentrated of Vishnu. The resident statues of Hindu working period. They are much-in-demand deities, adorned with offerings of fresh flow - performers who will not return again until a ers and candles, oversee this assembly as artis - few days before the performance, so the tic director Surupa Sen sits on the floor ges - dancers and gurus (teachers/soloists) are re - turing the story with arms and upper torso as hearsing with them all day and into the night. she narrates from her iPad: The days in this creative community of sweaty saris are lengthy and filled with a rigorous The story of human evolution schedule of classes, rehearsals, and daily Strewn with myth and illusion chores that generate ravenous appetites, de - Comes from the start mand multiple daily showers, and beg for Of the very old part where much-needed sleep. There was neither you nor me, Surupa Sen recalls that when she came to Not even the Big Bang Theory! Nrityagram as its first student, they did not The other two dance soloists, Bijayini Sat - have a single day of the week (or year) off. She pathy and Pavithra Reddy, leap into the space had to negotiate with her guru, Protima Bedi, with superhuman energy to dance the account for that to happen. Bedi couldn’t understand of how Lord Vishnu manifests ten different why one needed a day off from something you forms to urge human development forward on loved. its evolutionary trajectory. The three musi - Founded in 1990 by Protima Gauri Bedi, a cians sit against a wall rapidly making notes wealthy Mumbai socialite turned odissi while playing intricate rhythms and singing dancer, the village was designed by the ac - the devotional reprise, Jaya Jagadisha Hare! (Oh claimed Indian architect Gerard da Cunha on Lord of the universe, all glories to You!), as a land lease granted by the Karnataka state this ages-old Hindu narrative, filled with the government. Bedi described the concept, “It is fire and brimstone of destruction and the hope a community of dancers in a forsaken place and promise of new beginnings, is recreated amidst nature. A place where nothing exists, flush with vivid, new expression. except dance. A place where you breathe, eat, I have arrived at the small, terra cotta-col - sleep, dream, talk, imagine – dance.” ored settlement of Nrityagram, just an hour’s The rustic structures – studios, amphithe - drive from Bangalore, during preparations for ater, temple, dining pavilion, writers’ com - their Annual Day performance that will be pound, office, and cottages – are situated held two weeks hence. Nrityagram, which amidst ten acres of farmland planted with or - translates as “dance village,” is a place where chards of a variety of fruit trees and vegetable the Hindu gods are conjured forth with gardens that sustain the kitchen’s prepara - rhythms slapped onto the floor by dancing bare tions. The grounds, landscaped with colorful feet, intricate gestural designs formed by flowers and graceful trees, create a simple per - speaking hands, nuanced expressions of the fection exemplified by the fallen petals from ©2018 Karen Greenspan 51 a spray of bougainvillea that, by chance, form Nrityagram begins and concludes with the a fuchsia pathway to the entrance of a dance ages-old ritual of the shishya bowing to touch studio, as if to welcome the steps of a bride. the guru’s feet while the guru acknowledges Since Protima Bedi’s untimely death in a the relationship by touching the shishya’s 1998 landslide while on pilgrimage in the Hi - head, back, or shoulder. malayas, the Nrityagram dream has been kept It is before 8:00 in the morning, and my alive by her close friend Lynne Fernandez, who walk to the main dance studio is accompanied serves as executive director and lighting/tech - by a multiplicity of sounds floating on the nical designer, and Bedi’s students – Surupa morning air – the insistent call of a frog, a va - Sen and Bijayini Satpathy – now, respective - riety of birdsong, the “caw” of the crows, the ly, artistic director/choreographer and direc - distant “vrrm” of a truck, and the recording tor of dance education. Today Nrityagram of a woman’s voice singing Hindustani ragas flourishes as a modern-day gurukul (residen - (Surupa Sen’s morning music-listening ritu - tial school) for odissi classical dance. It ad - al). The devotional melody playing next door heres to the ancient guru-shishya (teacher-dis - permeates the studio as Bijayini Satpathy leads ciple) tradition, in which the disciple lives the residential students, who have made a with the guru and absorbs the unbroken one-year commitment to gurukul training knowledge of the lineage – about the art form and lifestyle, in a morning conditioning class. as well as life – passed on through a unique They bring their yoga mats and wear yoga mentoring relationship based on complete attire to participate in the session combining dedication and trust between disciple and yoga, modern dance center barre, Pilates mat teacher. In fact, each class and rehearsal at work, and calisthenics strengthening exer - cises. The final traveling sequences of bal - listic flexibility movements are kalari - payattu exercises. This ancient martial arts form that originated in the southern Indian state of Kerala developed from and utilizes conditioning exercises based on movements for warfare. Another morning the class consists of traveling sequences, which the partici - pants perform divided into two groups. One group calls out songlike verses in Sanskrit that narrate the movements while the other performs the exercise. Then they reverse roles. Satpathy ex - plains that these are exercises from the Natya Shastra (foundational, sacred, San - skrit text dated between 200 B.C.E. and 200 C.E., detailing the theory and prac - tice of dance and drama, upon which all of the classical Indian dance forms are based). The exercises are called caris, thirty-two movements of the legs – six - teen earthbound variations and sixteen aerial variations – all performed travel - Bijayini Satpathy and students rehearsing Battu . ing across the floor. (Photo: Karen Greenspan) Each day the morning session closes 52 ballet review Battu . (Photo: Shalini Jain) with two mantras validating self, communi - In contrast, at Nrityagram, Satpathy has as - ty, and the work in which they are all engaged. sembled a physical regimen that develops and Teachers and students sit cross-legged with maintains strength, flexibility, and agility to eyes closed in a meditative posture and chant support the dancers’ ability to perform the together in Sanskrit: technically demanding odissi choreography Om Sahana Vavatu Sahanao . . . and extend the longevity of the dancer’s ca - (May God protect and nourish us all reer. – students and teachers. After breakfast, other groups involved in May our study together be brilliant the upcoming performance arrive to rehearse. and free of obstacles. The children, ages eight to fifteen, come for May we work together without lessons at Nrityagram every Saturday, and are conflict. not shy as they discuss who has studied there May there be peace.) the longest. They are working arduously on a piece – Vasant Pallavi – that they began a year and ago, and Satpathy is unrelenting in her chal - Om Purnamada Purnamidam . . . lenging demands. Even the youngest responds (The Almighty is completeness. with unabashed commitment and exactitude We are completeness projected as they run through choreography filled with from that completeness. complex formations and step work, intricate When completeness is added to or hand gestures, and athletic squats and jumps. subtracted from, completeness After a second run-through, Satpathy ap - always remains.) plauds with an affirming, “Good!” As we walk to breakfast, Satpathy clarifies Before leaving, the children perform a that body conditioning is not common prac - danced salutation to the earth and their gu - tice among odissi dancers. An odissi dance rus. The short ritual is performed by students class, or lesson, usually refers to a session de - and gurus together, in which they descend into voted to learning a piece from the repertory. grand plié to touch the earth drawing energy fall 2018 53 from it. As they stand upright, their hands A traditional odissi program follows a spe - trace a circle around the eyes, behind the head, cific order of five dance items beginning with and come to rest at the heart while forming Mangalacharan (Invocation) and ending with the palms-clasped anjali mudra. Mokshya (Liberation). Each dance item is de - The rehearsal after lunch moves to the large signed to manifest glimpses of enlightenment amphitheater, with its red clay stage and stone (at oneness with the universe) that eventual - slab, overhead terrace supported by stone pil - ly lead the audience to spiritual fulfillment – lars. The dancers are now attired in their col - mokshya . orful dance or half saris, which are shorter For the second piece, Battu , the dancers are than a regular sari. The length of fabric is arranged in odissi sculptural poses all about wrapped around the waist in a wide skirt that the stage – under the terrace, leaning against hits just below the knee. Then it is draped di - the columns that support the upper platform, agonally upward across the chest, over the and downstage in the open space. This dance shoulder, down across the back, and tucked in item displays the scope of odissi’s postures and at the waist. dance technique. Sen walks to the back of the The cast of residential students has been grassy, tiered seating area to observe from a expanded with the addition of a sizeable group distance and shouts out spatial adjustments. of adult women from the city who study odis - As the music begins, the sculptures come to si dance as an avocation. Sen speaks highly of life, shifting with sensual ease from pose to these accomplished professional women with pose, dancing and miming actions of self- families who take dance classes three times a beautification – wearing earrings and gar - week – once on the Nrityagram campus and lands, tying sashes, coiffing one’s hair, re - twice in Bangalore, where Sen commutes to garding oneself in a mirror, making offerings, teach them. They are committed, skilled, beau - and repose. These odissi poses are all varia - tiful dancers. tions on the feminine tribhanga stance, with A pink satin-cloaked statue of Jagannath its triple-bent sideward S curve, and the mas - (Lord of the Universe and incarnation of Vish - culine chouka , or square plié stance. nu) presides from the center of the terrace Sen restaged Battu as well as Mangalacharan- above the stage. The statue, always present in Namami , both of which were choreographed an odissi dance performance, calls to mind by the great Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra odissi’s origins as a component of worship in (1926-2004), who was instrumental in the the religious veneration of Jagannath. Today twentieth-century reconstruction of the odis - classical dance is still considered a form of em - si dance form. He expanded the dance vocab - bodied devotion to the divine. ulary and shaped its repertory from his re - Singing vocals and playing mardala (drum), search of the sculptures on the walls of the sitar, and harmonium, the musicians sit cross- temples of Odisha. Guru Mohapatra taught and legged along the left side of the stage as the was actively involved at Nrityagram during dancers rehearse the spacing for Mangalacha - its early years and his dancing image graces ran Namami – an invocatory dance. The title the wall of the temple at Nrityagram. means “may you become present” and is an Satpathy and Reddy run through Srimati, an invocation to Lord Ganesha, remover of ob - original choreography from a larger work, Sri stacles, to insure a successful performance. – In Search of the Goddess , by Sen. It is a high en - The dance opens with a slow unfolding of stat - ergy pallavi, a pure dance composition of elab - ic postures of praise and invocation using of - orate step work to melodic song. Sen joins the fertory gestures. The dancers assume deep three musicians to play the finger cymbals, pliés and low lunges as they bow to the deity. adding to the building energy of this dance They eventually stand and the dance develops duet, chock full of crazy, syncopated rhythms. into a joyous display of driving rhythmic steps. The dancing travels all over the stage and cli - 54 ballet review maxes with a series of whirling spins pulled In each episode, Vishnu intervenes for the off like a magic trick. As the sun sets behind benefit of humanity. He takes on the forms of the stage platform, the sounds of odissi cele - a fish, tortoise, wild boar, man-lion, dwarf, bration play on until the dance ends with the warrior-sage, Ramachandra (heroic deity dancers backing offstage, hands clasped in de - from the Ramayana epic), the ploughman votion. The pallavi prepares the heart to re - Balarama, the compassionate Buddha, and ceive the next program item – abhinaya – an Kalki (who is yet to come). interpretive dance-drama expressing the “Jaya Jagadisha Hare! ” caps the end of each theme of the human yearning for God. verse. This bhakti (devotional worship) excla - After dinner, the three dance gurus and the mation is repeated by the musicians and then three musicians return to the studio to work sung in devotional-style refrain (like a Krish- on Dasavataar . Sen explains that the accompa - na consciousness sing-in). It is a stirring for - nying piece of music composed by Dhaneswar mula that builds expectation. But just as you Swain (rearranged by Sen) is a pure rhythm think you know the format, Sen varies the composition with melody only introduced presentational arrangement, creating re - during the devotional refrain. The subject newed interest and excitement. matter is a popular odissi choice – Dasavataar During a couple of episodes, Sen transitions – the first song from the Gita Govinda , the from narrator to dancer, seamlessly entering twelfth-century opus by poet Jayadeva. But the dance-drama. In a volatile Ramayana scene, there is nothing common about Sen’s ingen - Sen portrays the terrified Princess Sita as she ious interpretation with its updated rhyming is abducted by the evil demon-king Ravana, translation of the Sanskrit verses. She re - and then she joins the battling parties fight - counts: ing the protracted, violent war to accomplish Sita’s rescue. Returning to her storyteller’s Every time we fall apart post, she catches her breath with a mere “ Jaya We call for the Gods Jagadisha Hare! ” and proceeds with her tale. From the bottom of our hearts . . . For the tenth incarnation, “Vishnu will And so Jagadisha, Lord of the Universe come as Kalki the destroyer, who shatters the Comes to us in an appropriate form earth,” Sen jumps into action and dances Kal - To help evolution run along! ki’s terrifying destruction of the universe With her melodic voice, Sen is the ultimate while the vocalist carries on the narration. storyteller. Standing downstage left, in front With trembling hands and fierce lunges, she of the seated row of musicians, she narrates displays her masterful skill of expressive each verse in Sanskrit followed by her Eng - movement and abhinaya (mimetic aspect) as lish retelling, as the muted drumbeat drives she inspires the terror and awe of Kalki’s the story onward. All the while, she performs cleansing annihilation of humanity when it a poetic dance-mime enactment of Jayadeva’s has reached irredeemable degradation. account of Lord Vishnu’s ten incarnations. Satpathy and Reddy join her onstage as they Onstage, Bijayini Satpathy and Pavithra Red - all dance a rousing reprise of the movement dy physically convey through their powerful motifs from Vishnu’s ten avatars. The three dancing the conflict, terror, and wonder of whirl about like a crashing planetary system these dramatic episodes. Sen frequently joins until they spin offstage. And with this final the musicians in reciting the bols (spoken episode, Nrityagram leads the audience to an rhythms) and adds to the intensity of the inspired state of sublime, undiluted rapture – rhythmic accompaniment for the dance mokshya. scenes. Jaya Jagadisha Hare!

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