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A new theatre language
IT IS indeed a rare experience. As 20 young men and women concentrate, their minds and bodies focused on imitating their master. Their master is teaching them how to walk like an elephant or jump like a horse.
The Changampuzha Park is becoming lively these evenings, for better reasons. Those who gather at the park for idling away an evening might first be taken aback by the spectacle.
But the real beauty of the show is that very soon, this master and his students merge into the crowd to become invisible in their creative world.
Pandit Gopal Prasad Dubey is touring the city, spreading his expertise in Chhau dance. The last time he came to Kerala was as a guest for Sopanam, the theatre company of Kavalam Narayana Panicker. That was more than a decade ago. Now, it is Lokadharmi and Chandradasan.
`'Pandit Dubey is an excellent teacher. It comes naturally to him,'' observes Chandradasan, director of the Lokadharmi, centre for theatre performance and training. Thirteen members of the Lokadharmi are participating in this workshop. The five-day workshop in Chhau is being organised jointly by the Lokadharmi and the Changampuzha Cultural Centre.
Pandit Dubey is touring with his repertoire of Chhau dance. Having made his name as a leading choreographer for many theatre performances and films, he has stepped beyond the constraints of classical dance.
It is this versatility of the master that those who have gathered at the Changampuzha Park expect to learn. Thirty years of relentless training and performance have given him total grace and fluidity of movement. At least some of the students participating in the workshop might find it hard to imitate the way he moves around or even turns.
Theatre is there in his movements, looks and postures. No wonder, the world comes to his doorstep with assignments of choreography. For those in Changampuzha Park, it becomes a rare spectacle.
A typical Chhau performance lasts from seven to ten minutes. Except in Mayurbhanj Chhau, the most popular one among three variants, masks are used while performing. Even among the rest, Purulia Chhau is more tribal in nature and Seraikala, of which Pandit Dubey is the master, is the most refined one.
As Kadamanitta Ramakrishnan said while inaugurating the workshop, we live in an age when tokens of tradition are sold as souvenirs. We need not know what they stand for, still we will use it on our walls as pieces for decoration. It is to escape such senseless show-casing that traditional arts need to find a new relevance for themselves.
And in that sense, Pandit Dubey is a role model. He has transformed a tribal dance into a much-sought after technique for choreography in theatre and contemporary dance.
Chhau dance, as we see today, evolved between 1920 and 1950. Before that it might have remained closer to its ethnic roots.
Drawing parallels to our own arts like Padayani, Kadamanitta said that being a tribal art, there always is a chance of closer interaction with it in its milieu.
There could never be a better medium for positive criticism. There would also be an active part for the spectator to play. Making them instances of `total theatre.'
It is time for us to return to our ethnic Gods, who express themselves through arts like Chhau and Padayani. `Our Yakshi and Chathan were much more innocent and caring than many of the present day deities,' said the poet of forsaken divinities. Attempts to learn from them becomes relevant in that sense as well.
And it is also commendable that Changampuzha Park is playing host to this workshop.
The sand bed, which the master insisted upon for aiding effective footwork, will retain for long impressions of hordes of creatures moving around, with elan and grace.
By Anand Haridas
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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