|     |
|
| |
 SSDC's Noor glows at its premiere - Dr. S.D. Desai e-mail: sureshmrudula@gmail.com Photos: Yash Shah April 8, 2022 Sanjukta Sinha Dance Company returns to the stage with Noor (Tagore Hall, Ahmedabad, April 2) depicting the eternal search for the enduring spiritual light that bequeaths ultimate bliss. The metaphor develops with dance, music, light and shade, and with intervening spells of engaging silence. Conceptualizer and choreographer Sanjukta Sinha weaves the tale with her solo and as Noor, Iranian percussion musical notes, her current students' invocatory movement, all attired in red, and trained senior students' energy-packed contemporary dance. Suggestion, particularly in the portrayal of Noor, who has no physical dimensions but is longed for, anchors the performance.  It is Fakhroddin Sina's low-profile presence and soft permeating music, at times barely audible and reminiscent of falling petals, that spells and accentuates the mood of the quietly ever-going spiritual human search. In that mood, rather than with energetic strides and flying leaps, it is with an inward-looking visage and measured flowing motion that Sanjukta portrays the longing and the central image of the Light in traditional Kathak. Accompanying recorded instrumental music (tabla: Mohit Gangani, pakhawaj: Ashish Gangani, sarangi: Alarakha Kalawant. Music arranged and edited by Rushi Vakil) gets absolutely one with the performances.  Sanjukta Sinha With her signature vibrant skills, the dancer impeccably matches all rhythmic variations -Vilambit, Madhya and Drut; her intricate mudras with raised hands assuming significance are in harmony with the expression on the face; her eyes are directed at times to the tantalizing unexplored space beyond. The portrayals carry her characteristic lyrical visual quality that remains etched in visual memory and gives the dancer identity. Her twirling robe heightens the quality (costume design: Moh Studio).  Fakhroddin Sina The Iranian musician Fakhroddin, on whom the curtain opens, a gong in hand, ears close to it, enchants the participants as much as he does the listeners in the auditorium. He does not play a second fiddle. He has the kids, two scores and more, who enter led by two senior dancers from the two sides of the auditorium, move round hands folded in prayer to the soft rhythm of the gong he nimbly plays with a finger or two in the initial segment with the spotlight on him. He spells the mood of solitude and exclusive meditation when, sitting at the mike right front eyes lowered, he gently plays a hand-operated small drum. He interacts with the classical dancer Sanjukta as also with a group of girls and boys, SSDC's senior dancers, in a contemporary piece leading to the climax. He generates, supports and enhances the mood, helps develop and coordinates the thematic narrative without a protruding personal presence. Mellow percussion sounds, mystical in silence and the dark, usher in Noor, the divine light descending as if from her abode up in the sky. It is also Samiullah Khan's piercing evocative voice that portrays the invisible inspiration - Falak sezameen talak / Noor hi noor hai / Noor ki Roshni jannat se ai hai. A mass of white fabric symbolizes the light emanating from the divine being. Lights (Sangeet Shrivastava) contribute to the visual effect significantly all through the performance. One wishes however that the white fabric were artistically turned into a dimly glowing symbol of light inviting curiosity.  A dramatic this-worldly action in the form of Contemporary Dance ensues in contrast with its violence as Noor descends on the earth. There has been a near pandemonium, rhythmic and controlled, among a bunch of greedy men and women (Led by Pankaj Sihagare Shantanu, Vihanga, Hiren; Krutika, Vidhi, Anjali-classical dancers appropriately in a dark attire of a hood and a cloak) to selfishly grab and exclusively possess the light. The realization that finally dawns among all is that the noor is not anywhere outside - it resides within each one of us. And together they celebrate the awakening. Noor was premiered at the third edition of the Ahmedabad Art Festival.  Dr. S.D. Desai, a professor of English, has been a Performing Arts Critic for many years. Among the dance journals he has contributed to are Narthaki, Sruti, Nartanam and Attendance. His books have been published by Gujarat Sahitya Academy, Oxford University Press and Rupa. After 30 years with a national English daily, he is now a freelance art writer. |
