Abhinaya in an ambient key

CHENNAI: What do you get when an experimental Bharatanatyam troupe deconstructs a 15th century sankeertana, set against the backdrop of an ambient, Brian Eno-inspired soundscape? The answer lies in The Endless Mind, an abstract dance and musical exploration of poetry by the avant-garde Bengaluru-based Vyuti Dance Company. Aranyani Bhargav, choreographer and artistic director of Vyuti and dancers — Akshata Joshi, Gayatri Shetty, Ronita Mookerji and Seher Noor Mehra, will present this meditative experience in Chennai this Saturday, at Spaces. The 50-minute performance is being supported by the Prakriti Foundation.

Offering us a few insights into the genesis of this project, Aranyani tells us, “In 2008, I came across a book, an English translation of poems, which included the works of the 15th century Telugu poet Annamacharya. The book was called God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati (Translated by David Shulman and V Narayana Rao). One of the metaphysical poems in it — Kadaludipi Neeradaga, led to the creation of The Endless Mind. The poetry in the book comprised Sringara padams (love poems) and Adhyatma padams (metaphysical poems).”

The love poems take on the feminine voice, and refer to several aspects of the female experience including menstruation, apart from Sringara essentials like desire and intimacy. On the other end of the spectrum, the metaphysical/spiritual poems are rendered in the poet’s own voice, and chronicle the conflicting emotions experienced by the poet in relation to his god.

Aranyani tells us, “The performance attempts to address the duality of the human mind and its myriad states — meditative, and restless by turns. The infinite expanse of the ocean and the endless inquiries of the mind were some of the keywords we relied upon when conceiving this experience.”

In fact, Aranyani had revisited the idea for this presentation several times over the past decade or so, but was not satisfied with the way the vision of the poem was translated into the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam. Then, in 2021, she reimagined the act as a group effort and things began falling in place. Doing away with vocals and instruments typically used in carnatic shows like violin, mridangam, and flute, Aranyani onboarded Fragment of Light, an ambient music outfit comprising Ganesh Krishnaswamy (from Megadrone) and Leslie Charles (Thermal and a Quarter) to compose the music for this piece. The band in turn, was inspired by the works of electronica legend Brian Eno, and Pandit Pran Nath, an Indian classical music exponent of the Kirana gharana singing style.

For Aranyani, dancing in Chennai brings back fond memories. Having trained under Leela Samson of Kalakshetra, Aranyani found herself working on the archives of the legendary dancer Chandralekha, whose bungalow in Besant Nagar houses the unique performance art venue Spaces, where Vyuti will put up this show. “Even though I met Chandralekha late in life, she remains a strong inspiration in my art, and performing at this venue is certainly a special and a humbling feeling.”