Dancer Geeta Chandran Will Perform in ANEKANTA With Natya Vriksha Dance Company

By: Dec. 18, 2018
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

Dancer Geeta Chandran Will Perform in ANEKANTA With Natya Vriksha Dance Company

To Dancer Geeta Chandran, the current contemporary morass of violence, terrorism, political polarization and media complicity are all deeply troubling issues. But can the artist do anything at all?

A concept culled from the traditions of the Jainas, ANEKANTA refers to the principles of pluralism and multiplicity of viewpoints, which says no one thing is true - it could be true and other ideas also could be true. This statement admits of many dimensions. That which we express and that which is left unsaid; Vaktavya and Avaktavya both which are part of ANEKANTA, which also showcases concepts of impermanence and permanence, of the immortal and the mortal.

Geeta Chandran's thus ANEKANTA brings valuable oxygen to public discourse. It is slated to be the most powerful artistic statement created by the dancer and her dance company who have always moved tradition and performance thought ahead.

In Mumbai, on Friday, 21 December 2018, at the NCPA's PRAVAHA Festival, Dancer Geeta Chandran and her Natya Vriksha Dance Company will elaborate concepts of ANEKANTA through chiselled group choreographies.

The performance has been guided by intellectual inputs from author Smt. Sudhamahi Regunathan, a renowned Jaina scholar.

The NCPA performance is based on group conceptualizations of various aspects of ANEKANTA as relevant to dance. The performance explores aspects of music and dance, such as tala, beat and silence, bol or shollu through the lens of changing patterns or opposites and then concludes with the acceptance that even the multiple forms of the Divine can be viewed as a form of ANEKANTA.

TRIDHARA: The key concept of 'Anekanta' is multiplicity; in that there is no one universal truth or one way perspective that is correct.

The performance opens with Tridhara in which Bharatanatyam's ubiquitous Alaripu, which is often treated as a mandatory piece merely marking the beginning of a performance, becomes a vehicle for the choreographer to demonstrate the concept of multiplicity. The Tishra Alarippuin is thus simultaneously rendered in three kinetic variations. While dancers retain their individual identities by maintaining their respective variations of the tala through the piece, ANEKANTA is brought out when they all unite in the sama or the very first beat of the tala cycle.

MAAYE: The second piece is dedicated to the concept of Vyakta and Avyakta; what is said and what is not said; what is tangible and what is not.

To elaborate this aspect of ANEKANTA, Geeta has taken the concept of Form and Formlessness; of Saguna and Nirguna. Based on a composition of Muthusami Dikshitar, 'Maaye' opens with how Maaya grips us and pleads with the deity/lord/supreme abstract energy to release us from its grasp. The choreography establishes the inner and outer Dwanda; the Vyakta and the Avyakta; the tangible and the intangible.

JATI VISTAARA: This segment explores ANEKANTA through opposites: Rhythm and Silence. In a single phrase, the choreography employs beats and silence, again in different variations, which is then followed by a Jati delivered in various imaginations and rhythmic combinations. This section highlights how the same shollu or bols, can be played with, to create a harmonious whole, through different approaches to rhythm.

GRIHABHEDA: In this piece ANEKANTA is explored through music. It spotlights how the transposition of one note changes the entire tonal quality and eventually the melody itself. Through Grihabheda, one plays with the same notes; Sa is pushed to Ri - i.e. Ri becomes Sa. This progression creates a whole melody which is associated with different emotions. This creates an aural ANEKANTA through music which is then visualised in dance.

NAVAGUNJARA: This last choreography is based on an Annamacharya composition, 'Entra matra muna', made popular by Bharat Ratna Smt. M.S. Subulakshmi. The lyrics emphasise that in the context of spirituality, God appears in whatever form we seek him/her. If we look at God as Vishnu, God is Vishnu; for Shaivites, he appears as Shiva. In however and whatever form one perceives God, God takes on that form.

This is then linked to a tale from the Oriya Mahabharata where the Pandava warrior Arjuna encounters a strange beast in the forest. The Navagunjara has the head of a rooster, and stands on three feet - those of an elephant, tiger, deer , the fourth limb being a raised human arm carrying a lotus . The beast has the neck of a peacock, the back or hump of a bull, the waist of a lion, and the tail of a serpent. First bewildered, then afraid and finally ready to wage war on the unfamiliar beast, Arjuna suddenly realizes that this strange amalgam is none other than another form of Lord Vishnu and pays his obeisance to the Nabagunjara! Arjuna learns that the truth has multiple forms and though these may be unfamiliar in the beginning, they are nonetheless true.

The Tillana concludes the performance on a note of hope and optimism that multiple realities and approaches can coexist and need to be cherished.

A celebrated artist and a star-performer, Geeta Chandran began learning Bharatanatyam from the tender age of 5 years under the tutelage of Smt. Swarna Saraswathy, who hailed from the traditional Thanjavoor dasi parampara. Subsequently, Geeta continued learning diverse aspects of the classical dance from a galaxy of eminent Gurus.

Today she is a renowned artist who has synthesised the knowledge she received from her Gurus to imprint Bharatanatyam with her personal vision of the dance. In her dance presentations Geeta Chandran skilfully weaves abstract notions of Joy, Beauty, Values, Aspirations, Myth and Spirituality.

A polymath, Geeta Chandran effortlessly catalyses multiple vectors of creativity; She is celebrated not only for her deep and composite understanding of the art of Bharatanatyam, but also for her Carnatic music (she is a trained and accomplished vocalist), her work in television, video and film, theatre, choreography, dance education, dance activism and dance-issue journalism.

Geeta Chandran is Founder-President of her dance academy Natya-Vriksha in New Delhi. Natya Vriksha aims to make youth aware of the immense potential of Bharatanatyam to become a live voyage of learning. Through the dance, Geeta Chandran makes them comprehend the complex inter-linkages between the classical dance tradition and its strict grammar with other disciplines: Philosophy, Ritual, Religion, Myths, Ancient texts, Poetry, Literature, Art (Painting and Sculpture), Cultural Studies, Yoga, Handicrafts & Handlooms and Beauty & Aesthetics. Gender dynamics, gender equity and equality are integral to the pedagogy that Geeta has developed in her unique training module.

Geeta Chandran is also Artistic Director of the Natya Vriksha Dance Company, known for the high aesthetic quality of its group presentations that showcase Geeta's metier as a choreographer.

A rare combination of being both a luminary and a visionary, Geeta Chandran is a widely respected role model for the young generation. She guides reputed national cultural institutions and prestigious universities as their Board member, and she also serves on the Advisory Boards of several reputed schools and colleges and on several Boards and Empanelment and other Committees of the Government of India.

An influential spokesperson for classical dance, Geeta Chandran is the author of SO MANY JOURNEYS, an intensely personal collection of her writings narrating her engagement with Bharatanatyam. She also writes an insightful dance column in The New Indian Express/Sunday Standard, and uses her unique space on social media to promote issues relating to Indian performing arts.

Promoting Art in Education is her particular passion and she is committed to catalysing youth audiences everywhere on the values that classical dance brings to life and living.

In her effort to "en-dance the universe," she engages in a strategic range of dance-related activities: performing, teaching, conducting, singing, collaborating, organizing, writing and speaking to new youth audiences.

Geeta was awarded the prestigious national award - PADMA SHRI -- by the President of India in 2007. She has also just been conferred the equally prestigious national SANGEETA NATAK AKADEMI AWARD for Bharatanatyam for 2016, which she received from the Hon. President of India on 17 January 2018.

Geeta is also recipient of the prestigious TAGORE NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP FOR CULTURAL RESEARCH (2018-2020) bestowed by the Government of India's Ministry of Culture.

In July 2017, Geeta received the NIRBHAYA PURUSKAR for mainstreaming gender equality issues in her dance. And in January 2018 she was conferred the International Women Achievers' Award in Bahrain by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Geeta is also Brand Ambassador for IGL (Indraprastha Gas Ltd.) a leading public sector energy company. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tV5_PDuaME)

As her contribution to the SWACHCH BHARAT campaign, Geeta has conceptualised a Toilet-Use Education Campaign that seeks to change public attitudes to keeping toilets clean.

In 2014-2015, she marked the completion of four decades of dedication to classical dance, since her arangetram in 1974. 2016 marked the silver jubilee celebrations of Natya Vriksha.

Founded by the renowned classical dancer (Padmashri) Geeta Chandran, Natya Vriksha enshrines the best philosophies of Indian classical culture. Natya Vriksha aims to make youth aware of the immense potential of Bharatanatyam to become a live voyage of learning. Through the dance, Geeta Chandran makes them comprehend the complex inter-linkages between the classical dance tradition and its strict grammar with other disciplines: Philosophy, Ritual, Religion, Myths, Ancient texts, Poetry, Literature, Art (Painting and Sculpture), Cultural Studies, Yoga, Handicrafts & Handlooms and Beauty & Aesthetics.

The Natya Vriksha Dance Company is unique in that all dancers have been entirely trained in Bharatanatyam by (Padmashri) Geeta Chandran, who is Artistic Director of the Company. Since the dancers have grown up together, the level of trust and togetherness evident in the Company's choreographies, ensure a completely different emotional appeal. The Dance Company has forged a reputation for its crisp and mature group dance presentations. The Company has performed widely to rave reviews and has set high standards for group performances.

Natya Vriksha's vision statement seeks to probe the continuing relevance of classical tradition in a world of changing values. It showcases the aesthetics of Bharatanatyam and its history, how the tenets of the dance can be employed as a means of communicating issues of contemporary concern, even while exploring linkages between history and continuity, between external body and internal mind-space, between yesterday and tomorrow, between artist and audience............between roots and wings.



Videos