Looking back at IPAC
The Indian Performing Arts Convention (IPAC) 2023 forayed into its 12th edition this year and was held between June 17 and June 25, this year. IPAC featured week-long Masterclasses, lecture demonstrations and performances by distinguished faculty from India. Read on for a summary of what it entailed…
The Convention began with an invocation by the students of Mohanapriyan Thavarajah, followed by a sharing by Artistic Director of Apsaras Arts, Aravith Kumarasamy, wherein he introduced the Convention and what’s in store. With careful thought and planning, IPAC featured Masterclaasses for dance and music that were curated for practitioners and teachers across different levels in the arts. The lecture demonstrations too straddled an array of subjects and were presented with clarity and conviction by the presenters.
Bharatanatyam exponents, Rama Vaidyanathan and Bragha Bessell conducted Masterclasses for Intermediate and Advanced levels of dance practitioners while Priyadarsini Govind and Ramaa Bharadvaj held sessions for aspiring teachers on methods and techniques of teaching and choreographing for dance.
The inaugural day workshop was conducted by Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer-teacher, Shankar Kandasamy who worked around the theme of Finding Poetry in Nrtta.
There was also a special workshop by Koodiyattam exponent, Kapila Venu on how to prepare the body for Koodiyattam. This was a truly insightful session and also allowed participants a good understanding of the basics of Kootiyattam.
VR Devika, Ananda Shankar Jayant and Methil Devika also presented lecture demonstrations as part of IPAC. IPAC also had space dedicated for music and two Masterclasses – one on vocals and another on violin – were conducted by Dr S Sowmya and Embar Kannan respectively.
For a complete coverage on IPAC Masterclasses and lecture demonstrations, read this article featured in Sruti.
The highlight of IPAC, as always, is the showcase of performances by artistes, every evening and this year too it was grand and meticulously planned by the Artistic Director of Apsaras Arts, Aravinth Kumarasamy.
Bharatanatyam dancer, writer, educator and storyteller Ramaa Bharadvaj reviewed three performances that stood out in this series of evening showcases… Here are some key highlights from her observations…
Koodiyattam exponent Kapila Venu’s Mahishasuravadham premiered on Day one, June 23, 2023 of IPAC. In Ramaa’s words, the Esplanade- Theatre on the Bay, turned silent as they watched Kapila breathe life into the character of Devi and transform into a Devi herself. It was a moving performance and the audience gave the performance a standing ovation.
The second best performance according to Ramaa Bharadvaj was Mohanapriyan Thavarajah’s Skanda Rasam, a solo work on Lord Muruga. In Ramaa’s words, the true flavour of Skanda rasam was evident right from the decorations of the theatre to the backdrop of the stage, in the dance, the costume, aesthetics and the music. In total, everyone was soaked in the fervour of Muruga. Aravinth Kumarasamy’s story narration in between the pieces added effect and edge to the already splendid performance.
Anaavaran, Mohiniattam exponent, Methil Devika’s performance also stole the hearts of the audience. Her performance comprised a six-part presentation of carefully chosen pieces depicting a variety of emotions. Devika’s brilliance as a dancer, choreographer, performer and musician came across very clearly in her performance, said Ramaa Bharadvaj.
IPAC at the Esplanade – Day 1
(Mahishasuravadham – The slaying of Mahishasura – Kapila Venu)
By Ramaa Bharadvaj
One of the highlights of the IPAC experience consisted of the professional showcase performances presented by Apsaras Arts in collaboration with the Esplanade Theater. Curated carefully by Aravinth Kumarasamy, this year, there were three events that acted like three crowning ‘kalasams’ to the IPAC temple tower. Here I share my experience of each evening in three parts.
PART 1 of 3: June 23, 2023: “MAHISHASURAVADHAM”:
The first day of IPAC’s Showcase performance at Esplanade began with the booming sounds of “mizhavu’ and ‘edakka’ drums bringing not only ‘God’s own Country’ to Singapore, but the goddess Herself. Petite in form but massive in energy was Kapila Venu as she presented the slaying of Mahisha in Kerala’s Koodiyattam style. The daughter of the legendary exponent G. Venu, Kapila is the ideal torchbearer of her father’s legacy. She depicted Mahishasura’s fierce encounter with Devi through deliberately controlled and highly stylized gestures, radiating a mesmerizing intensity. Finally, as Devi drinks over and over from the wine goblet and rises in intoxicated ferocity to behead the ‘asura’, the audience watched Kapila’s fearsome transformation in reverential silence.
The Natyashastra speaks of the success or ‘siddhi’ of a performance as being of multiple kinds. Of these, the ‘dhaivi siddhi’ or divinely blessed success is said to elicit stunned silence from spectators. Kapila’s performance had that effect on the audience, but only for a brief moment; for soon the entire theater jumped to their feet to acknowledge her marvelous mastery, with a sustained ovation. As for me personally the effect continued long after I walked out of the theater and joined my colleagues at a restaurant for dinner. How does one walk up to a goddess and tell her she was spectacular? Finally, when I did tell her how I felt she laughed sweetly, and we became friends. That’s right! I befriended a goddess!
I’ll see you tomorrow with my views on the second performance, when a warrior god manifested onto the Esplanade theater!
– Ramaa Bharadvaj (July 11, 2023)
IPAC at the Esplanade – Day 2
(Skanda Rasam – Mohanapriyan Thavarajah )
By Ramaa Bharadvaj
One of the highlights of the IPAC experience consisted of the professional showcase performances presented by Apsaras Arts in collaboration with the Esplanade Theater. Curated carefully by Aravinth Kumarasamy, this year, there were three events that acted like three crowning ‘kalasams’ to the IPAC temple tower.
In this writing, I share my experience of each evening in three parts.
PART 2 of 3: June 24, 2023: “SKANDA RASAM”: When Mohanapriyan Thavarajah chose to devote his solo evening’s work to Lord Skanda, that beauteous God must have been pleased, for as it turned out, this second evening of Esplanade showcase fell on the exact day of Sashti, most sacred for Skanda worship, but the artists had no clue of this divine conjunction until after the event was over. Ahh… The thrill of such blessings!
True to its title, the flavors of Skanda could be experienced the moment we entered the Esplanade theater-space. Welcoming us was a beauteous stage ornamentation – a large decorative water-filled basin, with six lotuses floating at the foot of a majestic ‘vel’! The next wonderful addition was having Aravinth Kumarasamy as the storyteller. In a warmly intimate narrative style (that reminded me of the days of nestling up to my father to listen to tales about devas and asuras), Aravinth drew us in, into each dance, with pertinent narratives about festivals, puranic anecdotes, and ritualistic customs relating to Lord Skanda. The visual aesthetics was enhanced by his simple act of floating a tiny flaming light into the basin for each of the six dances that he introduced.
Mohanapriyan filled the stage with his charming presence through six dances that took us into the Skanda-sphere. I have always admired Priyan for his multiple talents beyond being a performer. He knows how to choreographically incarnate any concept with visual clarity and also present it with a design-aesthetics that satiates the viewers. This evening too brought forth those strengths. Since it is the vehicle that appears before the deity does, Priyan began his presentation with Mayura Alarippu in which his choreographic cleverness came through – he had imagined every gait and swirl to simulate not only Skanda’s mount, the peacock, but its rasa of ‘pride’ as well!
Although an elaborate Varnam and complex Thillana were part of the evening, my favourite dances were “Skanda Rasam” (a specially created work with lyrics and impactful music by Rajkumar Bharathi), and an effervescent Kavadi Chindhu. The former was an effective essaying of six emotions relating to Skanda’s six faces, through six puranic episodes. In the latter, Mohanapriyan brilliantly captured the complete folk essence of the song with some unusual choreographic movements that flowed with sinuous rural grace.
Ah! Such a pleasant evening!
And I’ll see you tomorrow with my views on the third and final performance when a heavenly nymph manifested onto the Esplanade theater!
– Ramaa Bharadvaj (July 12, 2023)
IPAC at the Esplanade – Day 3
(Anaavaran – Methil Devika)
By Ramaa Bharadvaj
One of the highlights of the IPAC experience consisted of the professional showcase performances presented by Apsaras Arts in collaboration with the Esplanade Theater. Curated carefully by Aravinth Kumarasamy, this year, there were three events that acted like three crowning ‘kalasams’ to the IPAC temple tower.
In this writing, I share my experience of each evening in three parts.
PART 3 of 3: June 25, 2023: “ANAAVARAN”:
Like a nymph from the heavenly sphere, she entered with a swanlike gait – the gorgeously stunning Methil Devika – and from then on, the evening only got better. Her six-part program presented in Kerala’s Mohini Attam style, featured intelligently chosen pieces, creating a balanced palette of emotional hues that, to my delight, included humor. Devika is more than a choreographer and performer, she is a scholar, and a musician too and these talents made her presentation sparkle – the crispness with which she introduced each piece, the clarity in her use of gestures to depict concepts and ideas, and the attention to effective musical orchestration for each dance!
Among my favourites was her interpretation of the popular “Yaaro Ivar Yaro”, an Arunachala Kavirayar composition about the first meeting of Rama and Sita. Very cleverly, she introduced the characteristic ‘Pandattam’ of Mohini Attam into the opening of this dance, and her conclusion to this piece showing Rama recognizing Sita even at first glance as Lakshmi, gave this song a dimensional depth that connected the past present and future. For me, it was a horripilation-moment. Her “Eshal” portraying a conversation between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had everyone giggling with glee.
The “Shambu Natanam” with which Devika concluded the evening was a fitting finale to the elegant strength that she portrayed throughout the evening (despite a sudden knee ailment). These verses composed by saint Patanjali have a fascinating story about how they came into being. Knowing this story is crucial to avoid a pronunciation error that most singers make in the use of a particular word that appears in the final refrain line. However, unfortunately, the rendition this evening too had that error.
Special mention must be made of the lighting designer Niranjan Gokhale from Bengaluru. For all three evenings, he lit each dancer with delicately nuanced sensibility thus enhancing the visual effect tremendously.
And with that concluded IPAC 2023 … PACked with learning, PACked with discoveries, PACked with excellence, and most importantly PACked with new friendships that are for keeps. Thank you Aravinth Kumarasamy!
– Ramaa Bharadvaj (July 13, 2023)
