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Anita Ratnam - Dance as sacred ritual by Antares, Malaysia e-mail: Antares@time.net.my Antares is awed by the consummate beauty, skill and wisdom that crafted UTPALA: THE AWAKENING |
| June
10, 2003
I very nearly missed catching the fabulous Anita Ratnam (and her Arangham Dance Theatre) in the world premiere of Utpala: The Awakening. The hot clammy weather had depleted my joie de vivre and I did not relish the thought of driving 110 miles merely to assuage my curiosity about this legendary dancer-choreographer, former TV producer, cross-cultural ambassador, and professor of aesthetics in the Universality of Dance. In the end I decided to toss a coin three times – and thrice the answer was, “Go... Go... Go...” The moment I set foot in Sutra House – the magic garden theatre of dance that Ramli Ibrahim built – my spirits began to lift. What a splendid setting for the epiphanies that were soon to follow. A crucial element was the enticingly eclectic music: a rapturous mix of prerecorded tracks culled from various sources - and live performance with Jaya Sekhar on veena and vocal, and L Subhasri on nattuvangam. There was an evocative dash of Sheila Chandran, plus some truly exciting sections featuring freestyle jazz piano and tabla. The editing could have been a little more polished – the fadeouts sometimes terminated abruptly, a jarring auditory experience – but the selection itself revealed the choreographer’s conceptual clarity and focused intent. Art’s success must be measured by its power to reconcile, heal and ennoble. Technical discipline, flair and skill may define professional standards but the core of the performance is where Mystery dwells: it reveals the soul essence of the artist for better or worse. The complementary aspects of lighting and costume design are important in dance and, in the case of Utpala, were more than satisfactorily fulfilled. What truly shone through was the sublime inspiration behind the narrative concept and choreography, which delineated and unified the divine, demonic, and human dimensions. In reconciling eastern and western dance vocabularies, the sacred and the secular, the classical and contemporary approach, the celestial and the terrestrial, Utpala: The Awakening seduced and gracefully guided us through the birth pangs of incarnate being, adolescence and maturity, sorrow and joy, tenderness and brutality, and led us unerringly to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel where our mortal existence is elucidated, validated and consecrated. Utpala’s synergetic blend of classical Indian elements with a contemporary, cosmopolitan perspective was confident and uncontrived, reflecting the work of a mature artist comfortable with her Indian roots - yet adventurously seeking a universal aesthetic. Using the lotus as the central motif of the work (“Utpala literally means the slender stem that connects the sacred flower to the muddy marsh from which it grows”), Anita masterfully synthesized Hindu cosmology with Jungian and gestalt psychology and grounded her thesis in the rich, dark soil of being human. Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva were invoked – then Shakti (the feminine principle) took over, in her Parvati, Mahalakshmi, Saraswati, and Kali aspects. And what a Goddess figure Anita cut with her charismatic stage presence - with a single mudra she was able to express a gamut of experience, her stillness was potent, her movements charged with ethereal grace. It was clear that Anita Ratnam was an object of devotion and an inspiration to her talented young dancers – to whom she gave generous space to display their admirable terpsichorean gifts. The two exquisite female dancers, Aarti Bodani and R Gayathri, were perfectly matched with their dynamic male counterparts, L Narendra Kumar and M. Palani. As representatives of humanity, the four enacted the phases of evolution, the dramatic (and traumatic) transition from tribal to individual consciousness, the inner and outer polarization resulting in the battle of the sexes, and realignment with and ultimate return to Source through spiritual awakening. In ritual dance, symbolic objects carry immense significance. The large basin of water at a corner of the open-air stage suggested cleansing, renewal and rebirth; the glittering discs of mirrored glass harvested from the dancers’ feet by the Goddess at the finale (and lovingly returned to the water) might have represented the divine spark contained within each soul, the holographic fragment bearing the blueprint of the Cosmic Whole, the luminous, self-reflecting consciousness of a sovereign entity. Even as I surrendered to the sensory and mental stimulation of Utpala: The Awakening, a part of me was acutely aware that Anita Ratnam had taken dance beyond mere art or entertainment, to the rarefied precincts of sacred ritual, whereby the boundary between performer and audience is temporarily transcended, and mutual blessing experienced. But just who is this Anita Ratnam? We learn from the programme notes that her classical training was in Bharata Natyam, supplemented by the Kerala traditions of Kathakali and Mohiniattam. (Indeed, she met Ramli Ibrahim while both were students of dance guru Adyar K Lakshman, and was thus happy to premiere Utpala at Ramli’s 6th Sutra Festival of Contemporary Dance Theatre and Music in Kuala Lumpur.) Anita subsequently obtained a Master’s degree in Theatre and Television from the University of New Orleans, and embarked on a 10-year career as a New York TV producer and weekly talk show host. She produced the highly acclaimed Festival of India television series among others, earning two Emmy nominations, and then returned to Chennai (Madras) where she established the Arangham Trust – a foundation promoting dance and its interaction with visual and performing arts. In 2002 she collaborated choreographically on two international productions: DUST (which premiered in the U.S.) inspired by the life of Tibetan explorer Alexandra David-Neel; and Hyphenated (which premiered in Canada), a work addressing issues of race, identity, and the trans-cultural experience. Apart from dance, Anita Ratnam’s work “intersects at the crossroads of art, ethics, philosophy and culture” and she engages with young audiences through “physical theatre” workshops. She also co-founded and co-directs The Other Festival – India’s “only contemporary arts festival” held annually in Chennai since 1998. And to top it all, Anita recently initiated www.narthaki.com – an award-winning web portal on Indian classical dance bringing together practitioners of Bharata Natyam, Odissi, and other Indian dance traditions – wherever they may be on the planet. This creative dynamo is also mother to two teenaged children who are proud of her celebrity status, but occasionally lament her absence from home when she’s touring or busy organizing arts events and workshops. At the close
of Utpala: The Awakening, Ramli Ibrahim invited questions from the audience.
The calm, clear manner in which Anita responded was equally impressive.
The Indian High Commissioner, H.E. Veena Sikri, happened to be in the audience,
and was asked to say a few words. Her gracious praise for the performance
was unstinting and augured extremely well for more vibrant intercultural
exchanges between India and Malaysia. As Ramli rightly reminded us, the
cultural, spiritual and commercial links between Mother India and her former
vassal states in the Malay Archipelago go back thousands of years. We have
every reason to cherish this precious heritage and continue working on
behalf of its future evolution.
© Antares (Kit Leee) 2003
Antares
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