JOIN USThe magnificent ‘Festival of Ballets’, organised by Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, concluded recently and people have still not been able to stop talking about the excellent show which enlivened the sultry summer evenings in the city.
In a country where mythological values are slowly finding less space in our consciousness, such Festivals are a welcoming attempt to revive our lost heritage. The festival attempted to showcase life and times of some of the well-loved characters from our ancient epics such as Mahabharata, including Meera, Karna, Duga and Kaalchakra.
However, the concluding performance of the show, Kumar Sambhava was deeply impactful wherein the powerful message of good overcoming the evil, was conveyed to the audience.
The dance-drama beautifully portrayed the endearing story of demon Taraka, who was gifted with the boon of invincibility by Lord Brahma. When he started misusing his powers, it became imperative for Lord Shiva to break his vow. After the immolation of Sati, he had to get married again to beget a son who could kill Taraka and put an end to his reign of terror.
Choreographed by Shashidharan Nair, the show was a beautiful portrayal of how Taraka caused havoc in the world and how Lord Shiva and Parvati got married and gave birth to Kartikeya. Accompanied by powerful lighting arrangements and touching compilations of songs and music, the entire presentation was nothing less than perfect.
While the audience were totally mesmerised by the superlative performance of the artistes, the director, Shobha Deepak Singh, felt equally acknowledged and grateful for its success. She said, “It was a tedious task for me to work back to back with five different themes throughout the festival. I credit it all to the teamwork which was possible only because of my dedicated team of dancers.”
Exhausted yet relaxed by the end of the show, Singh looked forward to taking the Festival of Ballets across the world. “Until last night, I was too tired to even think taking it to the next year. But today, I feel very accomplished and have already started planning things for the next year,” she told Metrolife.
Given the hard-work and passion that goes in making such performances, ballets and dance dramas, so close to reality; one will always look forward to a festival which reminds us of some of the most beautiful episodes from our cultural heritage and epics.