Spellbound

Here I present the second part of the Odissi dance Spellbound performed by Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia at Alva’s Virasat 2012. Spellbound, consisted of five Odissi compositions originally choreographed by Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, rearranged into group compositions by Ramli. The five items were Mangalacharan – Saraswati Vandana, Mukhari Pallavi, Ashta Shambhu, Oriya abhinaya – Kadamba bane banshi and Aditya Archana. In my first part of photos I had covered Mangalacharan – Saraswati Vandana, Mukhari Pallavi and Ashta Shambhu. Here I present other two compositions namely Oriya abhinaya – Kadamba bane banshi and Aditya Archana.

Spellbound

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Spellbound

I had a great opportunity to witness and document Odissi dance Spellbound performed by Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia at Alva’s Virasat 2012. Alva’s Virasat is a national level cultural program held every year at Shobhavana, Mijar.

Spellbound

Last year Ramli Ibrahim and his Sutra Dance Theatre group had performed at Alva’s Virasat 2011 with Vision of Forever Odissi performance. I had watched that performance only on TV and unable to capture photographs due to my busy schedule that day. So this year not to miss I kept all my work aside and attended, I am really glad about it as it was truly enthralling performance. I was able to capture over 500 good photos of the performance. I am trying to present select 27 photos in this part and others in the next part next week. Selecting them and reducing from such a large number to these few was a bigger task for me than taking those photos

Spellbound

Spellbound

I also had the opportunity to try out new Adobe Lightroom 4 beta which was released to public two days back. All these photos are processed using that software. It adds 2 more modules to the existing 5 modules, namely the photo book creator and the Google map for GPS location editing. There is a new white balance brush, develop modules are extensively revamped. All these changes in Lightroom made these photos much more processable. I was having a real tough time to get the color cast off due to varied color lights used in the dance. That variation is minimized due to the improvement in Lightroom 4. I will write an extensive review soon on the improvements in the Lightroom 4 in my future blog.

Spellbound

Spellbound

The name Ramli Ibrahim is synonymous with his Malaysia based Sutra Dance Theatre which has never failed in providing surprising, thought-provoking and often exciting Odissi dance recitals. Ramli Ibrahim himself is also synonymous with the invariable production of a strong original repertoire. An imaginative, sensitive and accomplished dancer himself, Ramli always attempts to break new ground in Odissi and this particular programme named Spellbound obviously had the same objective.

Spellbound

Spellbound

Spellbound, is billed as A tryst with the timeless beauty of Odissi… and consisting of five Odissi compositions originally choreographed by Guru Durga Charan Ranbir, rearranged into group compositions by Ramli. The five items were Mangalacharan – Saraswati Vandana, Mukhari Pallavi, Ashta Shambhu, Oriya abhinaya – Kadamba bane banshi and Aditya Archana. The presentation of all the items was good and in parts, even arresting, as expected of Sutra Dance Theatre. In my first part of photos I present the first 3 items namely Mangalacharan – Saraswati Vandana, Mukhari Pallavi and Ashta Shambhu.

Spellbound

Spellbound

The female dancers were notably good – their grace and sureness speaks well of their abilities as solo dancers too. For me this was heartening. The only slightly odd feature that stood out was the lower limb movements of the male dancers. Their legs moved with a degree of effeminacy, as also the exaggerated feminine swaying of the hips – beyond a degree this becomes uncalled for in a male dancer. Ramli’s dancing was obviously outstanding; his rich experience and aesthetic sense brought out an inner ecstasy, the joy in the persona of the dancer that is so fulfilling. In comparison, Guna – the other male dancer – gave a rather dull display. The power and depth which Guna is capable of and has demonstrated previously in his last years performance, was missing here, inexplicably.

Spellbound

Spellbound

An added issue for me was the execution of the Mukahri Pallavi, specifically Guna’s role in it. The character that Guna represented could not be communicated to the audience; it certainly left me confused and in spite of a plethora of movements and poses by this dancer, the message just did not get across. A misfortune, specially when the lucidity of a choreograph fails to fulfill its function! It is also clear that Odissi, derived from one of the most ancient forms of Indian dance, has a vast grammar. It does not need to be embellished by ballet movements to heighten its aesthetic appeal.

Spellbound

Spellbound

It is refreshing to see Suthra group was not using the stitched costume. Even though Ramli’s team has been criticized for skipping the oudhni (veil) worn by female dancers, I found the costume worn by them perfectly suitable for these dances without being vulgar. However, the absence of the taitha (Armlet) was glaring; this particular ornament adds much grace and appeal to the feminine form and I am wondering why the female dancers chose to do away with it!

Spellbound

Spellbound

Ramli Ibrahim, Guna were the two male dancers.The female dancers were Shivagamavalli, Geethika Sree, Michelle Chang, Abiramavalli, Thrisherna, Jyotsna and Shobhna Kumari Bag. Special mention must be made of Sivagamavalli and Geethika Sree, who were easily a cut above the rest.

Spellbound

Spellbound

Ramli Ibrahim has done commendable service to Odissi classical dance and its spread in South East Asia and many parts of the world. His fascination with Odissi has added a touch of exactitude to his inspired performances and thought provoking choreography. The future beckons with even greater promise, and I extend profound good wishes to him on the journeys ahead.

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After the Sarod Trio I had opportunity to photograph Odissi performance called Varnali by Rudraksh Foundation of Bubaneshwar. Varnali, a word taken from Sanskrit, signifies a tumultuous range of colors. True to its name, the Odissi dance performance showed fluid, colorful and graceful movements accompanied by a great choreography.

Challenges in taking photographs of a live performance are many. First you have to understand the form of art your are trying to photograph. Odissi provides ample opportunity as the dance is fluid with several slow movements and postures. Light is varying on the stage so you need to be on your toes to adjust exposure. I usually fix the ISO in 400 or 800 depending on the light. I also used fast lenses like 70-200 f/2.8 & 85mm f/1.2. These lenses gave me a better speed. Most of the time speed needs to be 1/200th of second or more to freeze the action as well as to minimize the shake/blur.

White Balance is very difficult correct as the lights are colored and constantly changing. So better to put them on Auto white Balance and shoot in Raw mode which allows you to correct the white balance in post processing. If I had shot in Jpeg format it would be very difficult to correct the white balance in post processing.

Obstacles in the foreground like lamps and background like the letters are unavoidable. I have tried my best to avoid many of these obstacles by using clever positioning. Some of them I had to remove by cloning out in post processing. But still majority of the obstacles exist. This is unavoidable in such a stage performance where you don’t have control.

Originally, Odissi was not considered one of the main classical dances of India. But its antiquity has been traced to an early sculpture found in the Ranigumpha caves at Udaygiri, Orissa dating to the 2nd century BCE. Thus, Odissi appears to be the oldest classical dance rooted in rituals and tradition of ancient times. In fact, the Natya Shastra refers to Odra Magadhi as one of the vrittis and the word Odra refers to Orissa.

Like most of the South Indian classical dances of India, Odissi has its origin in the Devadasi tradition, where it was initially performed in the temples as a religious offering by the ‘Maharis’ who dedicated their lives in the service to the Divine.

Odissi is considered a dance of love, joy and intense passion, pure, divine, and human. Over a period of time, three schools of Odissi dance developed: Mahari, Nartaki, and Gotipau. The Mahari system traces its roots to the Devadasi tradition. The dance form of Odissi that developed in royal courts is called the Nartaki tradition. In the Gotipau tradition of Odissi dance, young boys dress up in female attires and enact female roles.

One of the most distinguishing features of Odissi dance is the Tribhangi. The notion of Tribhangi divides the body into three parts: head, bust and torso. The postures dealing with these three elements are called Tribhangi. This concept has created the very characteristic poses which are more curvaceous than in other classical Indian dances. Mudra is also an important component of Odissi dance. The term Mudra means “stamp”, and is a hand position which suggests a wide array of symbolism and emotion. Odissi themes are most often religious in nature, and many revolve around expressing the stories of Lord Krishna.

Odissi was revived in post-independent India, as a neo-classical form, by a group of scholars and dance teachers, who formed the group known as Jayantika. Each one of the four dance teachers, revivalists of an old dance tradition, Pankaj Charan Das, Kelu Charan Mahapatra, Deba Prasad Das, and Mayadhar Raut, was characterized by a love of the dance, a struggle through poverty and adverse conditions in pursuit of their love for the art form, and an exposure to the art of stagecraft. Although Odissi moved from temple to theater and lost some of its spiritual quality, except as a dramatic device, without this coming together of four great dancers and the move into a theater venture, the dance would have been totally lost to posterity as an art form.

Rudraksh Foundation of Bubaneshwar with the vision to embody the best of the ancient tradition of Odissi Dance, while at the same time breathing new life into the art form through innovative choreography and providing training to develop exceptionally skilled dancers.

Guru Bichitrananda Swain is considered to be one of the leading choreographers in a new generation of Odissi Dance masters. His Choreography reflects an in-depth knowledge of Odissi, both in the nritta, or pure dance and the nritya, or expressional dance. It has a distinct vision both in the theoretical and practical components of dance particularly for the Purush Ang or male dance form.

I thank all the dancers, Mamata Das, Sarita Mishra, Sanjukta Dutta, Debashree Patnaik, Lingaraj Pradhan (who was exceptional in his portrayal of Karna), Amulya Kumar Balabantaray, Bikash Kumar Nayak, Abhaya Kumar Parida, Rashmi Ranjan Barik and Pabitra Kumar Pradhan who entertained us on that night.

During the two hour Odissi performance, I photographed over 500 photos out of which I got over 430 good photos. Culling the exceptional photos out of that took me over a week of work and it I feel is the most tedious work of the lot. This selection process has given me a opportunity to self criticize my work and improve on the composition skills.