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 e-mail: leelakaverivenkat@gmail.com Brilliant metaphoric interplay of life and kite flying in Pagrav Dance Company's Kattam Katti Photos: Vinay Datta December 12, 2024 "If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?" said poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Signifying this new life energy associated with the oncoming of Spring, is the festival of Uttarayan in Gujarat, when people shedding social and religious inhibitions, even transgressing geographical boundaries, join in the unique event of kite flying. In its highs and lows, this sport, much like ball play or motion of the swing, becomes an ideal metaphor for the unpredictability of life, with its ups and downs. Kite flying, in the competition for air space amongst fliers, witnesses the thrill of joy and sense of freedom as the kite soars in the sky, and the corresponding sense of deep loss and dejection when it comes spiraling down, its string in the air severed by a competing flier's kite - with the entire gamut of human emotions at play.  Presented in Chennai by Anita Ratnam and Narthaki Global Media, at the Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, was Kattam Katti by Urja Desai Thakore and Pagrav Dance Company, a U.K based group. Both treatment of theme in Kattam Katti and the way the dance medium of Kathak has been harnessed, flow from a cultural syncretism resulting from the dance company being based in the U.K. Cross-cultural exchanges can and do result in absorbing from other cultures, without getting blown away from the basic anchoring in one's home culture, adding in the process, new dimensions to one's own outlook on the art form, which comprises the basic language of expression for the person. Conversely, as Anita Ratnam pointed out in her introduction to the evening, Indian ideas can flow into other cultures too, in a reverse kind of colonizing, through art. Kattam Katti exploring an entirety of range of life emotions through the act of kite flying exemplifying the camaraderie versus conflict, resulting in feelings both reciprocal and antagonistic, underlines the existential tensions caused by inequality in society. The work needs no explanation for its audience friendly treatment resonates with the pulse of life as lived.  Very contemporary in treatment, with dancers in tasteful workaday clothes sporting no elaborate jewellery, this Kathak is without ankle bells and without its main percussion instrument of the tabla to sport peir-ka-kaam exhibiting the whiplash exactitude of ladhis. There is no linear narrative comprising a sringar or a mythological episode - and above all, no raised platform for seating the musicians to call the tune! Yet the entire canvas of action, with musicians and dancers as part of one scenario, is a real interplay of music and dance with unknown instruments like Uddu, and the Santoor, not common to Kathak, along with known accompaniments like the flute and a very fine vocalist. In fact, it is the play of musicians Gurdain Singh Rayatt, Hiren Chate, Kaviraj Singh, Ravindra Rajput weaving in and out of the total action play comprising dancers Meera Patel, Mire Salat, Saloni Saraf, Subhash Viman Gorania, which provides that 'dhwani' or resonance adding a high sense of theatre to the production - with raga, rhythm and parhant so in tune with movements, making the dance expression seem almost inevitable. And to achieve such a music/dance combine seeming so natural, must have evolved months of planning and practice!   One must mention that the entire production, while radiating a nimbler and lighter feel of what Kathak is understood to be, at the same time, satisfies all criteria of authenticity. The raga-based music, the dance movements - in the impeccable tala and matra aspect are according to classical prescriptions but in an unobtrusive adherence - in the takitadhikita, takadhimi, katida dha, rhythmic syllables, in the tisra, khanda, misra patterns whether 10 matras or fifteen matras or 16 matras of teental scrupulously adhered to. And for those who are aware of rhythm patterns with their language of syllable patterns like Dha ta ka thunga, having been inspired by the action and rhythm of the old Dhobi while washing clothes, lifting and beating the clothes soaked in soap water, on the stone slab in front, Kattam Katti provides an excellent example of how the language of rhythmic syllables is inspired by man's daily actions, with stylization coming in as a later factor. The stage setting (by Simon Daw) with strings running across the stage from one end to the other, criss- crossed in the centre was, according to choreographer Urja Desai's words post-performance, a pointer to impediments in life that people are constantly dealing with in different ways - and a dancer challenged by this obstruction, has to evolve new ways of dealing with it in the language of dance and indeed the performers achieved this so well that after a while, one failed to notice the strings as an obstacle! While those who attended were highly appreciative of the performance, one would have expected a larger audience. Kathak and in a contemporary expression would seem to make for a difficult combination for the Chennai art audience!  Writing on the dance scene for the last forty years, Leela Venkataraman's incisive comments on performances of all dance forms, participation in dance discussions both in India and abroad, and as a regular contributor to Hindu Friday Review, journals like Sruti and Nartanam, makes her voice respected for its balanced critiquing. She is the author of several books like Indian Classical dance: Tradition in Transition, Classical Dance in India and Indian Classical dance: The Renaissance and Beyond. Post your comments Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. All appropriate comments posted with name and email id in the blog will also be featured in the site. |
