A fusion of Classical and Folk art forms

There are no boundaries that cannot be fused, when it comes to art forms; and the results never fail to enthrall people and hook them to the performance. When well-known puppeteer and storyteller, Usha Venkatraman, collaborated with Takshashila Dance Academy’s founder, Gayatri Subramanian, and her students, the aim was to create something new and enriching.

The 40-minute dance and puppet show was staged last week at SPJ Sadhna School that trains persons with special needs. The audience comprised students of the school, who have special needs. Though this performance was in a way a repetition of an earlier show that was held at the Guruvayurappan Temple in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, it was markedly different in the sense that it was a more compressed version that was made more visually appealing, keeping the target audience in mind. “We made it crisper by reducing the time span of certain events.

For instance, the time given to the Jatayu fight or Ram-Ravan fight scene was reduced. In order to make it visually attractive so that the differently-abled students of the school would be hooked to the performance, Usha (Venkataraman) used more colourful puppets, including that of characters like Jatayu and the ten-headed Ravan. Dancers also had different props in place to add to the visual appeal,” said Subramanian, adding that more practice went in to make the act seamless.

The performance was based on Devdutt Pattanaik’s Hanuman’s Ramayana that talks about Valmiki being unhappy when he finds out that Hanuman’s version of the epic is as well acclaimed. However, he is moved to tears when he reads it himself but Hanuman gobbles up the banana leaves on which he had written, saying that he had written it out of devotion for Ram, whereas Valmiki had written for the noble purpose of informing the world about the epic.

Venkatraman conceived the idea of collaborating her art and Bharatnatyam to tell a story, as she thought it would be better expressed. “Ramayana unfolds in front of Valmiki as he reads it. So I felt it would be even better to not only use my puppets but also have dancers depicting characters and important scenes. Storytelling with appropriate voice modulation, puppets, and dance combine to convey the story effectively,” she said. Venkatraman had her puppets custom-made by girls in a Jaipur-based NGO called Hamara Nischay. She had puppets for all the main characters; namely, Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman, Mareech(deer), Jatayu, Soorpanakha, and Narada.

She narrated the lines written by Valmiki during the performance. It is a combination that is not often seen by people or used by artists. That is what attracted Subramanian when she was approached with the idea. “Dance by itself is a language that is used to tell a story, mainly through expressions and gestures. This, when mixed with puppetry, narration and songs, conveys the story more dramatically,” said Subramanian, who has been teaching Bharatnatyam for over two decades now.

Seven students of Takshashila Dance Academy took part in the performance, portraying various roles that were central to the story. Sakshi Pujari, who played different roles, said, “It was highly dramatised with various sound effects and we also donned colourful costumes to keep the audience captivated. It was really an excellent opportunity to be able to give students with special needs a different experience.”