From Darkness Unto Light, they lead us all …
By Umang Kumar,
Boston: They ended their performance by dancing to a piece which took its title from a Sanskrit sloka, “Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya,” – “Lead me from Darkness unto Light,” – urging the powers Almighty to lead them towards light – and yet it seemed that it was they who were leading us in the audience to ever-increasing light and vision.
These were the five dancers who form part of the dance-troupe, Articulate Ability, and are all legally blind. They performed at the Regis College in Weston MA on Saturday October 11. The event was organized by Association for India’s Development (Boston & MIT chapters). AID supports and initiates efforts at the grassroots in India to empower communities through work in sustainable agriculture, rational healthcare for all, women’s empowerment, education and social justice.
Under the artistic direction of Mysore B Nagaraj and assisted in choreography and training by Dr Suparna Venkatesh, Articulate Ability consists of 5 male dancers and 14 female dancers, all blind.
These dancers are proficient in various dance styles: Bharatnatyam, Kathak, folk, and martial-art based pieces. The male dancers, accompanied by Nagaraj and Ms. Venkatesh, are currently touring the United States for a series of concerts benefiting various chapters of Association for India’s Development (AID). Their flawless execution of dance moves and their coordination on stage thrilled audience members.
“It’s amazing how synchronized they were but beyond that they were incredible performers – surpassing most bands and troupes that I know of,” said Zainab Lakhani of Cambridge.
Buse Gowda, Guruprasad, Taraka Ramudu, Satish Rao and Shivaswamy – the 5 dancers, who are from the rural districts of state of Karnataka in southern India, found themselves in the Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind in Bangalore at an early age. It was at this school, around the age of 10, that participating in folk dances in school-celebrations inspired them to learn the more formal Indian classical dances.
“I was 11 or 12-years-old when I was introduced to the classical dance form. I just ventured into it – that is how the whole journey started for me 20 years ago,” explains dancer Gowda.
“Since there was no methodology of teaching classical dance to visually challenged people, especially a visual-performing art such as dance, it is actually these dancers who taught the teachers how to teach them. They are our teachers.”
“As teachers, we would just perform the dance movements, but these students would come and touch the teachers to understand the hand gestures, the body postures and muscular movements, the spatial movements. This tactile perception formed the basics of their understanding and then enabled them to execute the movements themselves,” he further expands on the method of training.
Gowda confirms: “This way, we took about 2-3 years to complete the basic steps.”
Nagaraj and Ms. Venkatesh included them in their own dance feature productions initially but realized that the talent of the five should be showcased in an independent production. Three years ago, the non-profit called Articulate Ability was started to encourage artistic talent among people with disabilities.
On Saturday, the programme consisted of various dance pieces, beginning with a ritual called Poorva Rang Vidhi inspired by the Indian treatise on dance, author Bharata’s Natya Shastra. It consisted of one of the artist coming on to the stage with a pitcher of water and then invoking the spirits of all the holy rivers of the world. This was followed by three other dancers coming out with a decorated ceremonial staff and seeking the blessings of the deities who preside over the eight cardinal directions of the world.
Dressed in dhotis with broad red borders and sporting traditional red head-dresses, to the sound of background music comprising of the nadaswaram, flutes and stringed instruments, the dancers enacted the ritual which combined daintiness with sure-footed confidence.
They stopped at each of the directions, bowing and saluting to the deities such as Indra, Agni, Yama, as the laudatory song in the background sought prosperity for the land, the people, the audience and the artists Nagaraj, who was also emceeing the entire performance, described the verses as calling down “spiritual euphoria” upon everybody.
The next piece – Narada Muni Vicharita Ganesha Dwadasha Stotra – was a direct invocatory verse to Ganesha, the god who is considered the remover of obstacles. It celebrated the 12 names by which Nagaraj and Ms. Venkatesh directed the “caravan” northwards next – as Nagaraj referred to the dance journey – by showcasing a Kathak piece set in the city of Benaras in north India.
The blind dancers were back on stage with a dance-piece called Pancha Brahma Prabandha, dedicated to the Lord Shiva’s 5 manifestations (Aghora, Vamadeva, Tatpurusha, Sadyojata and Ishana).
The dance involved the dancers standing in a circle facing outside, with their backs to each other. One by one they would emerge from the circle, perform the part of a particular manifestation of Shiva and rejoin the circle. The entire circle would then move till the next dancer to perform faced the front of the stage.
With another Kathak piece intervening, the 5 dancers came back for a number called Venu Swamin Vinod Vallabha portraying the various aspects of the cowherd-god, Krishna.
Decked in silk dhotis and ceremonial strings around their bodies, the dancers once again covered the stage with remarkably coordinated movements and struck accomplished poses as they enacted the various aspects.
A brief intermission later – where a short AID video informed the audience members of AID’s wide ranging work in areas of sustainable development in India – the dancers were back with a presentation of martial skills, Khadga Naman (“Bowing to the sword”), complete with swords and shields. Some scintillating mock duels ensued, with clashing swords and once again the audience was held spellbound.
There was in evidence great footwork and a seamless-ness to their movements and positions on stage that surprised many, especially as they went about brandishing and clanging the swords, and the applause was frequent and thunderous.
As Gowda puts it, “When the audience applauds, the appreciation really boosts our energy and confidence. These are the rewards for our performances.”
With one more Kathak number by Nagaraj and Ms. Venkatesh, this time set in the courts of Nawabs of Lucknow, the event moved to its final phase, that of the tillana, dedicated to the trinity of Indian gods in a piece called Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya (“Lead me from darkness to light”).
Adorned in shiny maroon-and-red pleated dhotis, a waist-band and an uttariya-scarf around their neck, with armbands and a necklace completing their attire, the dancers moved to rapid percussive beats, matching the rhythm with their own ankle-bells and stampings on the stage-floor.
They finished by coming to a stop, all in one line, striking their final pose – with the right arm raised and curved above their head, the left hand in a mudra, their legs crossed, the left in front while the right bent, standing on its toes.
It was perfectly synchronized ending to an evening of flawless teamwork and perfectly coordinated movements, accompanied invariably by displays of consummate skill and grace – and illuminated by a smile that seemed to be on all their faces, all the time.
As the house-lights came on and the performers took their bows, it was as if the audience was suffused by some inner light – the glow, joy and lightness of the movements of the dancers having transferred to the audience. The dancers had led everyone towards light.