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Malavika
Sarrukai, the Bharatanatyam danseuse, with a slew of awards and internationally acclaimed performances to her credit, is down in Bangalore to
delight the audiences with her latest ballet Ganga Nitya Vaahini. Malavika has created a 90-minute dance-drama inspired largely by her love of the
Ganga (गगां), which promises to be a visual and sensory treat.
Malavika has created a 90-minute dance-drama inspired largely by her love of the Ganga, which promises to be a
visual and sensory treat. Starting with the Sangam or confluence of the two rivers, the solo performance moves
into a piece of dance poetry written by her sister Priya Sarrukkai Chabria, called The lament of the Ganga. Adding to the contemporary feel is another piece of
choreography which Malavika developed around the theme ’The sun has set’. |
Malavika Sarukai |
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One dip in the Ganges and all your sins are washed away. The sanctity of Ganga has remained unchanged for ages,
attracting pilgrims from far and wide to relieve them of their past.
Perhaps that's why the pure echo of the river flowing
gets entrenched eternally, for anyone who has experienced being at the sacred riverside, and that is
exactly how the whole theme was conceptualised by Malavika Sarukkai, in her production, Ganga Nitya Vaahini - The Eternal River.
Says Malavika, “The entire creative venture came about as I sat by the banks of the river in Varanasi watching the flow of Ganga. Its meditative flow, then its rush into the place where it meets other rivers (Dev
Prayag) and finally merges into the ocean to show the physical as well as the spiritual merging with the source or the larger energy.
The entire production bears an all India feel with a touch of Kathak, Odissi and the music is inspired by Tansen and other saints of this country.”
The production depicts the different aspects of the river, from the “very physical sangam in Dev Prayag” to
Varanasi, which she considers more “a state of mind” than a place. |
One dip in the Ganges and all your sins are washed away. |
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‘’I was
sitting on the banks of the Ganga in my favourite city, Varanasi,’’ Malavika
says. “Travelling down the Ganga to me is like watching the tapestry of life reveal itself in all its variety and colour.
Children splashing in gay abandon, priests performing their rituals, people burying their dead, fisherman singing their songs — to me
this is the epitome of life in all its moods and moments. Varanasi is not a place to me, but a state of mind; the Ganga is not just a
river but a woman. She is a blend of Alkananda — seductive, sensuous and awash with the cool green of the glaciers; and
Bhagirathi, mature, warm and nurturing. They join in an amalgam of oneness and fulfilment at Devprayag, before surrendering to the
ocean in accordance with Advaith philosophy,” she says. |
Ganga in my favourite city, Varanasi says Malavika |
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Malavika’s work is not merely technically perfect but
full of improvisation, and her musicians have to be in tune with her right through without missing a beat. Eye
contact, body language, audience reactions — everything has a role to play in the final analysis of a truly
great performance. “People must come to see the dance not the dancer. I want my audience to feel that they
have just bathed in the Ganga and have used Pan-Indian music to showcase the diversity of the pilgrims at
Varanasi, drawn and interpreted right from ancient 15th century texts, to present day contemporary sounds,” she explains. |
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Courtsy: Deccan Herald - River of life (March 16 and March 24, 2009)
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