Creative force at its best

divine dance

Over centuries, the Shiva-Shakti theme has attracted Indian artists — dancers, sculptors, painters, poets, writers and musicians — to interpret and express this concept of Hindu creation, with results in everything ranging from gravid profundity to decorative abstraction.

According to Hindu genesis, Shiva and Shakti are the two fundamental forces, male and female, which create, penetrate and sustain the cosmos in an immutable and eternal balance. Though Malavika uses this intrinsic dichotomy principle as a springboard in this dance production, she focuses more on the auspicious nature of energy and the inflorescence of primal essence, particularly in collective ritual or private worship.

Philosophy and metaphysics are generally the bases for Malavika’s compositions. In her anagogical interpretations, she strives to make corporeal the divine, by embodying abstract notions in the best possible form. It will be fascinating to witness, in Shakti Shaktiman, how she transforms her cerebral constructs into Bharata Natyam, her chosen dance medium.

Shakti Shaktiman is poised in the synthesis of the polarities of phenomenal life: male and female, stillness and movement, the auspicious and the awesome. “By juxtaposing these dualities, we comprehend the whole. I believe the purpose of my art is to envision the spiritual reality of our lives. By recreating this powerful energy on stage, it awakens the positive in us. In the course of this long journey, I have discovered the importance of concepts which root the production, giving it many layers of interpretation.”

Behind the scene

The geneses for Malavika’s productions are diverse: emotion, intellectual quest, inspiration from things seen and experienced… In the case of Shakti Shaktiman, it was the drive to challenge herself, to think differently, to explore and define a new movement vocabulary. Energy, living in the moment, and speaking the language of dance in the present tense, were also triggers. They all engendered cerebral research, crystallising into ideas, which she then worked into choreography.

“My art is rooted in the sacred, which then works with the classical alphabet of Bharata Natyam and allows for contemporary energies of thought and technique. Technique is not static, but a constantly moving dynamic learning. Extension of dance vocabulary requires a supple mind, open to challenges and redefinitions. Dance for me is a language and not just a style, and hence dance is response, a response to life.”

Inspiration for Shakti Shaktiman ranged over an array of sources, from the marvellous sculpture of Mahisasuramardini in Mamallapuram (where the buffalo head of the demon actually looks rather benign), Devi Mahatmiyam poetry, the compositions of Swati Tirunal, to miniature paintings of the 18th century. The potency of Shakti, female energy, has remained a powerful symbol for Malavika. She particularly recalls the Durga festivals in Kolkata: images of the fearsome many-armed goddess on the rampage, in an annual reiteration of mankind’s hope that good can conquer evil. Her intuitive responses to Devi translate into iconic forms of Shakti in this production.

Her fascination with Varanasi continues, for it is a place that has imprinted itself deep in her psyche. River Ganga also flows as an undercurrent of inspiration within her, sustaining her in a very essential way. It is a recurring theme in her work, as seen in Kasi Yatra, and is also featured in the Ganga aarathi episode in Ganga Nitya Vahini. It is not surprising that her many visits to Varanasi, most sacred to Shiva, have played a large part in shaping her ideas of the male principle in Shakti Shaktiman. The lingam, placed under the spire of the temple, is considered the navel of the earth, Varanasi is hallowed with many of these forms, the jyotirlinga being among the most famous. Shiva images resonate in this production as aniconic depictions of that deity.    

Besides these introspective processes, her work grows out of dialogue with her mother, whose knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures have provided valuable infrastructure. “My mother has been involved in my long journey of discovery and interpretation. She always created an environment at home where this was possible.”

Collaborations

The urge to expand her repertoire has led to collaborations with those in other artistic fields, such as musicians and composers. She has also collaborated with Prof Goswamy, her dance bringing to life the miniature paintings of his slide lecture. She particularly values the potency of music as an aid to furthering the substance of her work. In Shakti Shaktiman, she has not only commissioned music but has also used traditional renderings of established pieces, thus making the soundscape pan-Indian. Thus, others’ musical talents have added to her own inputs of concept and choreography.  

“My productions work with music texture, resonance, sound and silence. At times, the choreography rests only on rhythm explorations. The sound design is rich, vibrant and varied. In my art, both movement (nritta) and expression (abhinaya) are responses to the soundscape, and not just danced to soundscape. Hence, improvisation and feeling are the vital core.”

Relevance to contemporary audiences has always been this dancer’s concern: she updates the classical dance form, pushing its boundaries to accommodate new themes, so that her productions find reverberations with today’s audiences. In Shakti Shaktiman, we look forward to witnessing Malavika’s very personal vision of an axis mundi, an intersection of heaven and earth, where the spiritual and the aesthetic meet.

It is also appropriate that genesis will be depicted in Bharata Natyam, for Shakti Shaktiman could be seen as a tribute to the ‘cosmic dancer’ himself, illustrating another favourite Hindu hypothesis: that creation was divinely danced into existence merely for the delight of the Supreme Being, who embodied His blissful nature in the play of Maya. And that Shiva as Nataraja, with his destructive energy, dances each Mahayug to its cyclic completion.