JOIN USThe festival of Mohiniyattam which is currently underway in New Delhi, showcased four different schools of the dance form - Kalamandalam, Kalyani Kutti Amma, Kanak Rele and Bharati Shivaji - focused on the journey of the dance and its transformation, especially in styles evolved by dancers who settled down outside Kerala and India.
“This was the first ever Mohiniyattam Collective Festival in the country and it a tribute to Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay, whose efforts supported the resurrection of the dance form,” says Bharati Shivaji founder of the Centre for Mohiniyattam, which is organising the event.
The three-day event culminated on August 18 with the performance by Athira Shankar, disciple of Guru Kalyani Kutty’s Amma’s school and Pallavi Krishnan, an alumni of Kerala Kalamandalam. The festival was supported by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Talking about the event, Vijayalakshmi, dancer-daughter of Bharati Shivaji, said, “The festival was extremely successful.
Various schools and gharanas come together on the same platform to showcase the dance form. Through the festival, we successfully conveyed that the dance form is more important than individual dancers.” Vijayalakshmi, performed to a background score by global composer Mac Quayle.
“Mohiniyattam has come a long way. It was earlier confined to the border of Kerala and not known elsewhere particularly in North India. But now people are very familiar with it and appreciate and admire it. It has evolved much more than any dance form,” added Vijayalakshmi.
Russian danseuse Olga Stolyarova (an ICCR scholarship student) and Manjula Murthy represented Bharati’s school. Mandakini Trivedi represented Kanak Rele’s style and Athira Shankar of Kalyanikutty Amma and Pallavi Krishnan that of Kerala Kalamandalam style.
“The festival was very rich as it had a very holistic approach to it. It not only had dance but a lot of information about the dance form for people to understand. Even the audience turnout was very good. We all were together in a very positive spirit,” shared Vijayalakshmi.
The festival also featured a photo exhibition and rare documents featuring all the Gurus and other exponents of the dance form from the time it was revived. The photos were sourced from Sangeet Natak Akademi archives and the famous collection of Mohan Khokara and curated by his son Ashish Khokar.
The festival also featured Panchavadyam, the unique percussion ensemble of Kerala, talks by eminent historian M G S Narayanan and other gurus.