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When lines do the talking

A dancer creates a tizzy with his linescapes of dance

PHOTO G. KRISHNASWAMY

ART AND THE MAN Raghav Raj Bhat with one of his Ganesha sketches

Imagine Birju Maharaj minus his kohl-lined eyes, his protruding eyeballs but with the same butterfly steps and you get the general idea of Raghav Raj Bhat, the dancer who is creating waves in the art world.

Walking around the ICCR Gallery, dressed in a grey khadi kurta is Raghav Raj Bhat with a salt and pepper hair slicked back. Raghav, who is a trained folk dancer and a pupil of Kathak guru Birju Maharaj, has moved on to doing more with hands than just gestures. Rubbing his palms, running his fingers over his knuckles Raghav walks around and shows what each and every sketch means to him. "The Ganesha series is a labour of love executed over a period of eight years. In the beginning was thought, that's why I have drawn this pencil sketch with the lord of letters in meditation. Then he moves on to writing, playing music and dancing," says the artist. There he is writing, playing various Indian musical instruments ranging from the veena to even nadaswaram (no it isn't a shehnai) before executing some intricate dance steps beginning with the Bharatanatyam. There are 21 works showing Ganesha in various poses that are on display. But Ganesha is not just him, he imbibes the qualities of what he is doing. So, the Ganesha playing veena is an amalgam of image with Saraswati.

But it is not the delicate line strokes that he is getting talked about. The buzz is about the dance poses. Raghav uses elemental lines to create his miniature masterpieces where a few lines can create the lithe pirouette of a kathak dancer or the grace of a bharatanatyam danseuse.

You can even identify Uday Shankar's oeuvre from a sketch that perhaps has a dozen flowing lines. The lines might appear delicate, but they aren't as each stroke has to be perfect or the canvas is just wasted.

Raghav begins by explaining that it has been some years since he started using his fingers to draw lines on paper with a pencil besides using his toe to draw the line on the dance floor.

"Don't have a camera to click the sketches?" No problem. Raghav sits down with an A4 sheet and in five lines creates the leap of a Bharatanatyam danseuse. That's magical art. The exhibition is on till September 4.

SERISH NANISETTI

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