Nirmanika

Nirmanika, which means ‘architectonics’ in Sanskrit, is Milapfest’s most recent production in collaboration with Singapore-based Apsara Arts.  The piece explores the structures, spaces, sculptures and stories of Indian monumental architecture through the medium of bharatanatyam dance.

There couldn’t be a more fitting dance form to pursue this idea, with geometry of the body being a key aspect of bharatanatyam. Nirmanika was also inspired by the ‘devadasis’ who inhabited the sacred spaces, dancing before the deities- so it seemed that bharatanatyam had come full circle by maintaining these values of devotional worship but now within a modern context of a stage production.

The opening item, Shri paid homage to the cardinal directions of the ancient architectural treatise, the Vastu Shastra.  Dancers placed on squares of light focused the audience’s attention on the energy that each was depicting. In the centre, the deity of Brahma, the creator, was worshipped, with the choreographic genius Anjana Anand principally assuming the role.

In keeping with the bharatanatyam tradition, the opening item, the Alaaripu, was performed in different time patterns or jaatis, Here it was evoked with a wonderful subtlety that blended in with the arrangements on stage as if part of a shifting kaleidoscope.  The next piece depicted three famous Indian monuments. The first was the Konark temple in Orissa, built to depict the sun’s movements. An opening formation of the Sun God, Surya, on his chariot was a powerful and moving image. Whirling formations with explosive linear limb movements perfectly depicted the active and life-giving energy of the Sun. Two dancers took on the role to explore the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. The stage was soon filled with images of gopuram towers and pools of lotus flowers. At one point, the dancers became a succession of pillars that came alive with each of the eight notes of the scale almost as if by magic. The Taj Mahal was lastly referenced in what seemed quite a rushed sequence. Although the dancers used white scarves cleverly as they held them up in complex swapping movements, I would have liked to have seen the sentiments of such a famous monument explored deeper.

The next two items were an exploration of the stories behind the making of great South Indian temples. Utilising bharatanatyam’s extraordinary capacity for story-telling through the use of hand gestures and facial expressions, Anjana evoked scenes that were carved into the stone of the temples and insightful commentary was provided to further guide the audience.

The whole cast of dancers were transformed into real apsaras on stage in the last piece Elevation as their colourful costumes were changed to an angelic all-white. The choreography was inspired by the spiritually uplifting architecture of the Borobudur Buddhist temple in Indonesia.  Throughout the evening, dancers would seamlessly switch between representing architectural designs and sculptures to being their dancer-selves, all the while maintaining fluidity and flow within the space. The very last image was one of enlightenment as all the dancers gathered around and a central column of light highlighting a single seated dancer deep in meditation to the recitation of  Tamil verses.

By the end of the performance, I was, without a doubt, completely astounded. Yes there were some aspects of the abhinaya, or story-telling, which were too complex – the amount of rich history and Tamil literature that it was steeped in, for example – but I still felt that Nirmanika was a largely successful attempt to bring the ancient into the modern day.  The production rested on an inspiring conceptual idea, which was suitably matched by the creative choreography. The performance enabled me to appreciate architecture in a whole new way and I can now see how architecture can be seen as dance in stillness and dance can be seen as architecture in movement.  Nirmanika was an incredibly engaging production that breathed new life into the centuries-old dance form.