Poetry in motion

THE PRAKRITI foundation presents "Aha, Purushakaram"- An evening of Poems, by the noted Kannada poet Prathibha Nandakumar, with contemporary dance interpretation by Madhu Natraj Heri and the STEM Dance Ensemble of Bangalore at 7 p.m. on July 7 at the Museum Theatre, Chennai.

Prathibha is a multifaceted personality and has worked in various capacities as journalist, writer and poet. She has been part of various national and international literary seminars and meets and her Kannada poems have been translated into several languages. She has also written screen plays and scripts for nearly 150 short films. She has been honoured with a number of awards, including the Sahitya Academy Award, Putina Kaavya Prashasthi, Muddanna Kavya Prashasthi, B. H. Sridhar Sahitya Prashasthi and Dr. Shivarama Karantha Award.

Madhu Natraj Heri is the daughter of the great kathak dancer Maya Rao. She has undergone intensive training in kathak and choreography from the Natya Institute of Kathak and Choreography, Bangalore and trained in contemporary dance under Karen Potter at the Jose Lemon Centre, New York. Presented by prestigious organisations such as the ICCR, the Sangeet Natak Akademi and the like, Madhu has performed at various international and national dance festivals. As director of STEM (Space, Time, Energy, Movement) Dance Theatre and Choreographer of the NATYA STEM ensemble, Madhu works with a team of eminent artistes, designers and musicians exploring new possibilities for productions. Married to jazz guitarist and composer Amit Heri, Madhu continues to perform kathak, contemporary dance, choreograph, write and research dance forms.

"Aha Purushakaram" is Prathibha's fifth book of poems and was released by author Shashi Deshpande, recently. The phrase is from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra which describes the human form. Prathibha says her collection of 50 poems celebrates the human form. Her fascination with harnessing infinite possibilities of the human body led her to think of getting her poems set to dance.

Madhu and her group will perform three compositions with recorded music for interpreting poetry in dance while Prathibha will read excerpts from her book and translations in English and Tamil.

V. R. DEVIKA

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