Shobhana's Dancing Drums to premiere today

Internationally acclaimed Bharatanatyam danseuse and actor Shobana's latest production, Dancing Drums, premieres in Mumbai today, which comprises various Indian performing traditions brought beautifully together in a collage of rhythm.

Calling dance a spiritual practice, she told dna: "Being a storyteller, I've always been fascinated with our legends — these can be retold time and time again. Art has the power to bring people together, in communion. In Dancing Drums, I've touched on music that largely brings the ethos of religions other than my own together. This is, in a way, a thanksgiving to the country, that is religiously tolerant," said the dancer, who has an entire performance dedicated to the Biblical episode involving Mary Magdalene.

Unlike Maya Ravan or Krishna where, besides Carnatic music, songs from Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam movies were also woven in, she underlines how that will not be the case this time. "In rhythm — because of the inherent abstraction — the interpretative possibilities are more, but that also makes the work more challenging. In Dancing Drums, I interweave all my mediums into what I like to call simply as 'trance'. We've choreographed to a wide canvas of ethos, transcending religious boundaries," she said about the one and a half hour show, on which she and her troupe have been working for over two months. Shobhana added: "Since it's live music, most of the choreography is based on instinct and on-the-spot creation."

Speaking about her twin passions of dance and cinema, the dancer-choreographer delineated the two as being different. "One is about being as close to reality and to convince the camera of the emotion that you go through, while the other is communicating subjects and legends that belong to a different time. While you do this, you follow codes set for you by books and teachers. While both have the freedom to bend and experiment, the pursuits on camera are frozen in time. On stage, you can change it a hundred different ways."

When asked about her plans to direct a movie, she said: "My life keeps changing artistically. What to do? One moment I want to write a film, the second I want to write a musical. The second is always easier."

The Padmashri awardee known for her unique thematic productions like Maya Ravan, Krishna etc — which have won hearts not only in India but across the globe — similarly laughed at a question about how her autobiography is coming along. "It's still in the stages of the foreword."