Ghirija Jayarraj’s ‘Wanderland’ explores dance, displacement and dreams

Places, experiences and memories that signifier an idiosyncratic during their formative years often sow the seeds of their big persona. For artistes, these impressions find look successful their originative pursuits. ‘Wanderland’, a multi‑media accumulation by Shastram, conceived by writer‑director Ghirija Jayarraj and precocious presented astatine Alliance Française, was 1 specified enactment — inviting america to travel with her done an creator way shaped crossed geographical boundaries.

The show unfolded arsenic a bid of fragmented visuals. Film footage of places and radical from varied backgrounds crossed antithetic clip zones, archival scrapbook pictures, caller photographs and interviews played connected the celluloid screen. Interspersed with these were unrecorded creation performances and theatrical sequences woven into the communicative — gradually merging into a cohesive collage of forms and memories.

Moving betwixt Sri Lanka, India, and Australia — the 3 places that moulded her beingness — the communicative offers penetration into Ghirija’s varied experiences: from displacement and household travails during wartime successful Sri Lanka to her caller beginnings successful Australia. Grappling with a consciousness of belonging, she sought refuge successful Bharatanatyam, reconnecting with her taste practice to navigate an individuality crisis.

Dance sequences successful varied styles, performed with finesse by Avijit Das, Prateeksha Kashi, Sruthi K.P., and Shwetha Krishna, on with younger dancers — Shwetha Jaishree, Sreejith, and Arivu Selvan — were seamlessly integrated into the film’s narrative. Small anecdotes and stories accompanying each conception were some engaging and clarifying, underscoring their relevance to the theme. Cinematography and creation absorption were by Pradeep Kaliyapurath.

The presumption sought to physique a span betwixt past and contiguous done the struggles of displaced communities and individuals. However, the galore pieces of footage featuring conversations with creation gurus, combined with an excess of scrapbook images, diluted the seriousness of the production’s intention. Certain sections of theatrical interventions felt highly contrived and retired of place. A tighter edit of the footage, perhaps, would person created a stronger impact.

Overall, the show moved beyond the realm of being a specified creation narrative, engaging the spectator and inspiring a mode of self‑reflection.

Earlier successful the evening, different production, ‘Mukuti’, directed by Ghirija, was presented by Shruthi K.P. Using a elemental chemoreceptor ringing arsenic a metaphor, assorted questions of a dancer’s individuality were explored done a blend of music, dance, theatre, and film. The enactment traced the improvement of Mohiniattam done a movie enactment anchored by a choreographic enactment of Nirmala Panicker. The satellite of Meenakshi, her passionateness for dance, the pressures of societal structures and her emotions were beautifully captured connected film. However, the unrecorded creation sequences did not lucifer the interaction of the screen. Recurring references to the mukuti provided an absorbing link, with parallel streams reflecting the dichotomy betwixt 2 eras visualised effectively.