To Varnam ... with Love
A story of love, devotion and commitment; to a god, to a myth, to a way of moving and being.
Set against a projections visual backdrop, this research places the Varnam, a ‘piece de resistance’ of a Bharatanatyam repertoire performance, within an ever-changing, fluid contemporary moment.
Personal, artistic lineage, historical nostalgia and reverence for tradition form the core of this research. Notions of the text being alive through generations of dancing bodies, the mystery of the ‘Dance of Breath’ of Lord Shiva in his form as Tyagesa, and a different approach to the processional dance are some of fragments of creation being explored.
Inspired by Saskia Kersenboom’s book ‘Word, Sound, Image’ (1995) and Chitra Sundaram’s performance ‘Moham – A Magnificent Obsession’ (2003). Created as part of The Place’s research and development programme Choreodrome 2017.
Credits
Choreography and performance
Divya Kasturi
Dramaturgy
Chris Fogg
Dramaturgy and movement
vocabulary
Chitra Sundaram
Video design
John-Marc Gowans
Marketing
Rohanne Udall
Music
‘Mohamana’ Varnam, composed by Ponnaih Pillai (b.1804)
Additional composition, vocals and instrumental: ‘Chitravina’ Ganesh
Thank you to:
Dr Avanthi Meduri, Smt. Nandini Ramani and Nina Head
