August 17, 2013
Audience at TagoreTheatre got a glimpse of four women characters from the Ramayana on August 16, 2013. In the performance titled "Tejasa", which was made up of four different dance forms. The dance form depicted the strength of the feminine. The show was directed by Odissi exponent RanjanaGaujhar, who also played the character of Sita. Not only classical dance lovers, but theatre artistes as well as young students turned up to watch the performance.
Uma Dogra played Kaikeyi and narrated the character's story through Kathak, while Gopika Verma used Mohiniyattan to outline the character of Surpanakha. The dancers, gracefully defining the characters that are usually construed as negative, depicted their positive side. The last leg of the performance was by Kuchipudi dancer Deepika Reddy, who played Mandodari. The script of the performance, which strung the four characters together, was inspired by Suryakanth Tripathi's verse.
The show marked the formal opening of the Chandigarh Arts and Heritage Festival 2013, which will see an array of performances till August 20. The four dancers will also be in the city through the festival. They will present the performance across colleges here and speak to students about the relevance of the characters in "Tejasa" and women empowerment.
The concept of the performance is an old one, yet a delight to watch every time. It is enthralling to watch such exponents of classical dance. It can be seen from the show that the artistes have worked very hard and mastered their art well. There should be more such shows in Chandigarh that explore newer subjects. It's good to see the lost Indian epics being revived in this manner. Young audience can get to know about Indian culture and dances from different states through such shows.
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