With a variety of dance styles and music performances, the Elephanta Festival is back with a bang in its 24th year. Started in 1989, the arts, music and dance festival has been a favourite with cultural connoisseurs and has seen some noted and well-renowned dancers perform at the festival. To be held on March 2-3, the line-up has some exciting names including Sufi Kathak exponent Manjari Chaturvedi and violin maestro duo Ganesh-Kumaresh.
Chaturvedi is making her debut at the Elephanta Festival. Having been the founder and exponent of Sufi Kathak for over 15 years, Manjari says that she has choreographed a piece specially for the festival and will focus on the transition of understanding beauty. “It is an interesting concept that involves the process of understanding beauty of the form to the beauty of the formlessness. This particular piece shows a woman exploring and admiring her own physical beauty till she realises how beautiful the Almighty is. She understands the beauty of the formlessness and how she then negates her own physical beauty in the light of the almighty,” explains Chaturvedi.
The music accompanying the performance is equally divine and beautiful like that of the nature of the dance. “We’re bringing Qawwali singers all the way from the Dewa Sharif from UP. I am looking forward to the lilting rhythmic performances by them,” adds Chaturvedi.
Odissi and Kathak danseuse Parwati Dutta will be presenting her acclaimed dance production Sannidhi, which means “to flow together”. The dance ballet, brings together all the seven classical dance forms (Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kathak, Manipuri, Kathakali, Kucchipudi, Mohiniattam) on one stage where the seven dance forms represent seven rivers. “Every dance represents a river since every tradition is like a river. The river embodies the tradition and is the hallmark of a civilisation. The ballet is a tribute to water and all that it stands for,” says Dutta.
Considering the dance forms have such varied musical patterns and subtle nuances that need to be paid attention to, Dutta says the music comprises North Indian, as well as the Carnatic style of music. “The music for Sannidhi has been composed by Pandit Madhup Mudgal, who has tried to adapt to both the styles very well,” says Dutta. She adds that each dance form has its own form of percussion movement and that’s how the rhythm remains distinct for each of them. “For example, the pong (the percussion instrument used in Manipuri) is represented by the Yamuna River. Odissi has a mardal while Bharatnatyam has a pakhawaj,” she says.
The most challenging aspect was to retain the purity and essence of every dance style. “I am a traditionalist and purist as a dancer. I would not use the music that we use for Kathak in Odissi and vice-versa. Each dance has its own ethos and tradition and that cannot be tampered with. I believe in creative freedom that is within the realms of ethos. So it was quite a challenging production overall,” says Dutta.
The festival will also see performances by Ranjit Barot, Shujaat Khan and V. Selva Ganesh and George Brooks. Dr Jagdish Patil, managing director, MTDC said, “While the festival will include some of the best performers from across the globe, the theme will retain its objective to promote Indian culture and expose it to the world and the nation. The participation by international artists in Indian art forms will position the festival as a leader in promoting Indian heritage, not only in the state, but across the nation and in the international circuit, putting the Elephanta Festival on the international tourism map.”