A new production about Nataraja combines mythology with high technology, finds Joshua Muyiwa.
Sharada Srinivasan is a quiet, unassuming woman. Nothing about her – not the simple purple salwar-kameez she wears, her demeanour or her mannerisms – suggests that she has a lot to brag about, if she so wished. Srinivasan, an accomplished dancer and an associate professor at the School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, is one of the leading experts on the history of science and the bearing it has on dance. And in studying the applications of scientific studies in art and archaeology, archaeomaterials, archaeometallurgy, Srinivasan is seeking to make the connection between science and dance. “I have spent the past two decades researching south Indian bronze sculptures from both the scientific and the artistic perspectives, and have attempted to explore connections between dance iconography and science,” she explained.
Srinivasan’s research centres on eleventh-century Chola Dynasty representations of Nataraja, the creator and destructor form of Shiva. “I co-wrote an academic paper with the late Nirupama Raghavan who was based in Chennai. In it, Raghavan postulated that the iconography of the Chidambaram Nataraja corresponds to the star positions of the constellation Orion that could be viewed from Chidambaram in the eleventh century,” Srinivasan said.
Though these academic papers and research were interesting areas to look for that elusive link between dance and science, Srinivasan wasn’t quite satisfied. “You see, academia has very limited reach and remains only within scholarly circles,” she complained. “Furthermore, there seems to be no direct co-relation between science and pop culture in India because of the lack of museums and interactive spaces.”
This search for conveying the message to a wider set of people got Srinivasan thinking about a full-scale dance production. One day, after a chance encounter with Nino Ciccarone, director of the Alliance Française, she learnt of the Toulouse-based dance company K. Danse, who do significant work with digital media and dance. They put together Dance of Stars: Nataraja and the Cosmos last year. “We use streaming as a means to explore concepts of time and space to demonstrate that Shiva is worshipped in the Chidambaram temple as three separate beings – the form, the semi-form and the formless. The choreographers, combining traditional bharatanatyam and contemporary dance, will stream the performance online, so anyone, anywhere can watch it,” she said. While this marriage of digital-era technology and ancient mythology sounds exciting, it hasn’t been easy going for Srinivasan and the dancers. “Everyone assumes that Bangalore, with all its IT, would be the ideal place to mount such a performance, but it has been difficult getting hold of the technology required and the bandwidth,” she said. “This is why the performance is at Centre for Research and Education in Science & Technology, Indian Insitute of Astrophysics, Hoskote.”
Source : Time Out Bengaluru ISSUE 3 Friday, August 20, 2010
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