Celebrating womanhood

Classical Ballet

Eminent Kathak dancer Uma Sharma saluted the spirit of womanhood through a ballet that narrated the struggle of Indian women through the ages and her long-standing struggle to emerge as an empowered, liberated and independent individual.

Organised by the India Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Bhartiya Sangeet Sadan on account of International Women’s Day on March 8, the dance ballet ‘Stree’ depicted different roles of a woman.

During the ballet, a long momentous journey of a woman was interpreted by Uma with her solo performance along with a male dancer, who appeared in key moments.

The story was told through on-stage sutradhars (narrators) in Hindi, English and Urdu. The creation was based on an English poem written by Aruna Vasudev.

Uma, herself a symbol of woman empowerment, has been performing since the age of 14. She is known for reviving the old classical dance form of natwari nritya or the raslila of Brindavan, which later evolved into Kathak. She was invited every year by former Prime Minister Pandit Nehru to perform at his birthday parties. She has also performed at Rashtrapati Bhavan for Queen Elizabeth. Uma’s forte is translating poets Kalidas, Vidyapati, Mirza Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore, lqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz
and Harivansh Rai Bachchan into dance.

Talking about her performance, Suresh K Goel, director general, ICCR said, “The ballet was very powerful. It told a story, while creating political and social awareness about the struggles of a woman in India as manifested in mythology, history and through social practices. It imaginatively strings together various episodes to create a lasting impact.”

He added, “The International Women’s Day is an appropriate occasion to bring forth the story of a woman--whether she is Sita, Radha or Draupadi. This particular day calls for equality and an effort to provide legal and human rights to women.”

The music for the ballet was composed by Pandit Jwala Prasad, while the lyrics were penned by late Rifat Sarosh. The evocative lyrics suggested, described and evoked the moods of a woman as she moves from joy to pride, through humiliation and subjugation to her final manifestation as today’s modern ‘Durga’ – independent and strong.

The performance was held at Kamani Auditorium. On the occasion, some eminent women achievers from the field of dance, stage, law, politics, social work, civil service, art, media and parliament were also honoured and recognised.