This is an old college submission. I found it rotting in my mail-box. I am putting it on the blog... It could do with a well deserved outing, I thought.
Critique of Sharira.
Subverting the need to
remind of and reconnect to religious iconography, Sharira
enunciates that spirituality is as much about the body, as it is
about the divine.
The choreography
represents the dynamics of a man-woman relationship. It portrays
birth, the role of man as a protector and provider, the unison of two
sexes and the final integration of the male and the female forms.
The movements are terse
and effortlessly amalgamate into each other, making the
choreography a soothing syncretism of tradition and modernity. To an
audience used to dance being velocious, the slowness plays with the
ambit of concentration.
The economy of movement
and attires devoid of ornamentation, are refreshing. The innovative
synergy of yoga and Kallaripayattu with Bharatnatyam,
dispel all timeworn, institutionalized notions of the classical form
of dance. The choreography uses non-linear geometric forms to
deconstruct the grammar of Bharatnatyam and lend it a new
form.
Mythologising themes has
enslaved dance in tradition, nostalgia, and sacredness, Sharira
questions the set themes. It asserts that dance is the
celebration of the body.
The interaction of the
“male” and “female” forms, however, falls short of lending emotion or
intellect to the relentless drift of the dance. It focuses too much
on the form, making a Sharira a plastic treat for the eyes.
Tishani and Shaji are
absolutely expressionless and detached from the audience. Even when
they finally face each other in the 30 minute duration of the
choreography, they remain impassive.
Although Chandralekha was
widely known to be a feminist, the composition of the dance is
extremely inconsistent in representing the female form. Sharira
begins with depicting the female principle as the source
of life; in the final integration of the female and the male
forms, however, the “female” is depicted as upside down - an act that
completely deconstructs the female principle.
Although the economy of
movement is distinctive, there is not much variety in it, especially
for Tishani.
Sharira uses the human body to
represent the notions of sexuality and spirituality.
The use of the human form, however,
demands spark, emotionality, and spirit.
Sharira fails to deliver all
three.
