Kaustavi Sarkar demonstrates brilliance in her use of learnt forms, particularly in Odissi and contemporary Indian dance.
Kaustavi Sarkar demonstrates brilliance in her use of learnt forms, particularly in Odissi and contemporary Indian dance. An artist and an academic, she has emerged as a powerhouse, capable of translating any story, be it from our ancient classics or contemporary literature, into her choreographic works.
Sarkar has been performing and teaching the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra style of Odissi for over a decade. She is the artistic director of an India-based organisation, Kaustavi Movement Centre, while at the same time pursuing a career in US academia. She is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and has taught at Kenyon College and The Ohio State University (OSU).
Advertisement
She holds a PhD in Dance Studies from the Ohio State University (2017).
Kathaka Ritusree Chaudhuri had a chance to learn the nitty-gritty of dance theatre and choreography at Duke University in North Carolina, USA. Being a mere Kathak performer, it was rather challenging for Ritusree to use her knowledge to choreograph dance theatre. Persistence and perseverance were her motto to face this challenge.
Ritusri Chaudhuri opted for a US Fellowship in the Asian Culture Council in the USA for six months, which was a substantial achievement for her because she could showcase Indian culture and tradition through Indian classical dance styles abroad.
Her passion for art, culture, dance, and theatre has made her a prominent Kathak dancer and a renowned choreographer.
A graduate in mass communication, Ritusri simultaneously enrolled at Kolkata’s Padatik Dance Centre to further her dance career and learn Kathak under the mentorship of legendary figures like Pandit Birju Maharaj and his senior disciple Madhumita Roy. After her disciplined training, she soon became a performer. Her dance journey commenced with performing solo in Delhi’s Kamani Auditorium. After this, there was no looking back. Group and solo performances became a regular feature across the nation and overseas. From 2008, her forays into choreographing started. She has learnt dance, theatre, and choreography in ballet and Kathak at Duke University in North Carolina, USA.
Chinna: Split Your Being was a joint effort of Kaustavi Sarkar and Ritusree Chaudhuri in translating an ancient tale, as ancient as the time of the Puranas, into a dance theatre.
It was a unique interdisciplinary take on the goddess Chhinnamasta. The goddess is a symbol of the inherent power of the human condition to attain greater heights and merge with higher consciousness. Symbolically, Kaustavi and Ritusree presented Chinnamasta to showcase the radical transformation that the goddess can bring about in the lives of human beings. In this philosophical approach, technical elements in traditional Kathak and Odissi dance were reworked for the purpose of dance-theatre with live music incorporated into the choreographic sketches, exploring the connection of the individual soul with higher consciousness.
Goddess Chinnamasta is one of the ten Mahavidyas – in the Tantric pantheon – and a ferocious aspect of Mahadevi, the Mother goddess. The self-decapitated goddess holds her own severed head in one hand and a scimitar in another with three jets of blood spurting out of her bleeding neck, which are drunk by her severed head and two attendants – Dakini and Varnini.
The goddess is depicted with imagery that connects to the main nadis or energy channels and the kundalini, which is a dormant spiritual energy residing at the base of the spine.
The dance-theatre progressed in three episodes, presenting a tryst between the human beings and the esoterically powerful being of Chhinnamasta.
It is believed that human beings progress through the chakras – the energy centres in the body, showing the gradual awakening of the Kundalini. The production showcased the awakening of the Kundalini through the seven chakras, activating and balancing them, leading to heightened awareness and spiritual growth.
The dance theatre began with the aesthetic performance of Purvaranga, which is a sanctifying ritual according to the tenets of Bharata’s Natyasastra. It was to evoke the five elements and the goddess and to energise the performance space with a focused charge.
The first episode presented the human condition at the Muladhar Chakra – the root chakra, which is the first of the seven chakras – and the Swadhishthana chakras – the sacred chakras, which begin at the base and control emotions, sensibility and creativity. Here, lust, anger, jealousy, ego, and fear thrive. The goddess emerges, with a powerful invocation, as she challenges people to continue rising on the quest towards freedom.
The second episode showed the human condition at the level of the Anahata – or heart chakra – with its love, compassion and emotional healing qualities and the Manipura – which is the solar plexus chakra that gives people confidence, willpower and personal power to dive into deeper human emotions such as love, rising above instinctual passion. It depicts complex emotional attachments of motherhood and companionate love. The goddess emerges yet again, urging people to continue moving towards a higher quest.
The last episode showed the merging of the human with the higher consciousness as the journey continues from the Anahata, through Visudha Ajna – our eyebrow centre at the top of the spinal cord in the middle of the brain – and Sahasrara, which causes spirituality and divine connection. Here, the decapitation of the head showed the complete detachment of the human condition from all material desire. In this ultimate realisation, the human energy channels of the Atman merge with that of the Paramatman.
The concept of Chinna was esoteric, and hence the lay audience was reduced to admiring the beauty of dance movements, costumes, stage décor, etc.
Kaustavi Sarkar’s Karana poses were highly admired. There was much perfection in her rendition.
Ritusree’s stage presence was admirable, as were her pirouettes, which Kathak is famous for. Since dance aficionados were presented with a dance-theatre, much understandably, Ritusree conscientiously concentrated on it more than she did with the technicalities of Kathak’s bol, tukra, tehai, etc
Chinnamasta’s three jets of blood spurting out of her bleeding neck, symbolised with three red ropes, were very imaginative.
