Kochi: A solo dance-theatre performance by Padma Shri-award winning dancer-choreographer Geeta Chandran will take place at JTPAC in Kochi on October 5.
The show titled 'GANDHI: Wrap & Weft' was premiered in October 2012 at 'Gandhirama,' an International Conference on the freedom fighter organised by Jawaharlal Nehru University. The production has had successful shows in Delhi, Chandigarh, Patna, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
The performance comprises six concepts interpreted through dance that flows contiguously from one to the other.
The first concept is Religious Unity, where the dancer begins with her own reliance on traditional structures of devotion to provide the foundation for an understanding of the spiritual syncretism that Gandhi preached.
The second section Celibacy, re-frames from a female perspective the journey from 'shringara' to 'virakti' that mirrors Gandhi’s experiments with desire and renunciation.
The third theme explored is Satyagraha, and is inspired by Gandhi’s prison writings, and epochal moments from the Indian independence movement like the mass civil disobedience protests and the Dandi march.
From there, the piece explores Ahimsa, both in the concept of turning the other cheek as peace offering, as well as the violence inflicted on the self through such radical protests like hunger strikes.
The fifth section looks at Caste and Shram with an eye both to the reformations of the past that Gandhi sought regarding the dignity of labour, as well as the atrocities of caste oppression that continue to our present day.
The concluding section Khadi examines Gandhi’s belief for ecological sustainability and balance, and uses thread as a metaphor for both the bonds that the Gandhian movement sought to create across the nation, as well as the lines that divide us.
Awarded Padma Shri 2007, Geeta Chandran is also Artistic Director of the Natya Vriksha Dance Company, known for the high aesthetic quality of its group presentations.
She has travelled all over the world with her performances and has danced at many prestigious dance festivals in India and abroad.
In 2007, she was invited to perform at the World Hindi Conference in New York, and then again to represent India at the India-60 celebrations at the Lincoln Centre in New York.
She was invited to tour UK as part of the celebrations of the Indian Republic turning 60. In the summer of 2013, she travelled through Poland popularizing Bharatanatyam and Indian values.
For more details and reservations, contact: +91-8086881681 or +91-9349528057.