Odissi exponent Ranjana Gauhar’s recent dance drama, Nal-Damyanti, brought forth pure dance forms juxtaposed with animated characters. By Ila Sankrityayan
The performance was all set to woo the audience with a complete computer-generated environment where on one side dancers would follow the dance style of the Odissi-Chhau and on the backdrop, animated characters would move as if interacting with the performers.
The repertoire uniquely followed the style of the Amar Chitra Katha where about 25 animated characters reflected India’s architectural history. Dancers combined graceful movements and swiftness with delicate expression and coordinated with the moving picture technique to present a unique dance drama Nal-Damyanti.
The entire dance piece was conceptualised, choreographed and directed by Odissi exponent Ranjana Gauhar, known for presenting innovative patterns in her performances. This time, however, she made it visually appealing with digital effects and computer graphics. Only a great experimentalist like her can think of merging something as subtle as classical with modern techniques of audio-visual presentation.
Gauhar showed how beautifully Odissi and Chhau complement each other in terms of structure, vocabulary and technique. Dressed in traditional dance costumes, the performers displayed a conglomeration of aesthetics and technical detail with graceful gestures and firm body movements.
Gauhar’s dance-drama interpreted the most famous story from Mahabharata. It focussed on King Nal of Nishadh and his wife Damyanti, princess of the Vidarbha kingdom. The king lost all his wealth, property and kingdom in a dice game and was left to meander in the forest without proper clothes and food. During such adverse conditions, his wife, Damyanti stood by him, revealing her unconditional love and care. We asked Gauhar about her choice of subject and she said that she picked it up because of its moral lesson. “The story of Nal-Damyanti teaches us that to ward off evil temptations in life, one needs unyeilding will. Even kings with integrity have succumbed to temptations in their moment of weakness and have repented later. Today, temptations of various kinds surround us like traps and I hope that this beautiful and simple story would help awaken the inner consciousness of the common man,” she said.
Pulling off a production this big was quite a challenge but Gauhar had her son Sidharth Daniels helping her out. “Framing the idea and bringing it on the stage in such an exquisite style of dance were two different things. When I was trying to figure out how to execute the production, I faced some serious road-block as the story unfolds some unusual and not so normal circumstances and situations. One day I shared the matter with my son, a filmmaker who specialises in animation. He offered to resolve my limitation of depicting the story through animation and not just dance. And I liked the idea very much and we started working on it together. The challenge was huge as we were working on a very traditional mythological story and introducing animation into it, which is a high-tech modern concept. But we were able to achieve satisfactory results in about four to five months,” she shared.
Although she presented a classic; Gauhar has evolved herself with time. “As artistes we have to cater to the demands of the audience. So changes are always part of a performance. Creativity and innovation are always full of challenges and they raise the bar of excellence. The composition for this particular dance drama was inspired from ballet music and the voiceover gave a special clarity to the progression in the story line,” shared the artiste.
