‘Rebel Ranis’, a dance-theatre musical, gives a new voice to women from the epics

A caller bold dance-theatre philharmonic — ‘Rebel Ranis’ — that reimagines pistillate narratives from our epics done a modern lens, is an inaugural of the Delhi-based Keelaka Dance Company. It blends Bharatanatyam with fluid modern movements and jazz-style Tamil tunes.

“The accumulation was calved from the question: What if our epics were written by women?” shares Aneesha Grover, director, Keelaka Dance Company, who has agelong been inspired by the layered, unapologetic penning of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and its absorption connected lived pistillate acquisition “without dilution”. It led her to deliberation astir the inherited narratives and voices that person shaped our taste history. “My signifier applies an intentional feminine regard to our past literature.Rebel Ranis is an effort to reconstruct complexity, bureau and nuance, allowing women to writer their ain truths,” she adds.

The accumulation brings unneurotic Kaikeyi, Draupadi, Karaikal Ammaiyar and Sita— women separated by time, yet bound by their experiences. The enactment unfolds done Bharatanatyam, modern dance, theatre and unrecorded Tamil euphony — creating a layered, visceral connection of storytelling. “While Kaikeyi confronts aboriginal maternity and the suppression of her governmental self, Draupadi transforms her trauma of battle into awakening, Karaikal Ammaiyar rejects the assemblage to clasp formless liberation and Sita rises arsenic Mahakali to redress patriarchal wrongs. Together, they uncover that contempt time’s passage, the information of women has lone shifted marginally — demanding a signifier of righteous rage to make change,” says Aneesha.

According to Jyotsna Shourie, co-director of Keelaka Dance Company, Bharatanatyam contiguous finds itself astatine the crossroads of contented and transformation. “The accumulation tries to demystify the stylised classical signifier portion reimagining past narratives for a new-age audience.”

Talking astir the production’s music, Aneesha says it’s a premix of Indian classical, people and jazz. Keelaka’s dancers instrumentality connected the dual relation of actors, delivering dialogues successful English. The show tract varies from a signifier and the achromatic container to museums. “The program is to marque viewers portion of the show. We privation it interactive to capable to convey what we privation and get instant feedback.”

Some of Keelaka’s erstwhile works see ‘Sakhi’ a creation theatre that explored a fictional relationship betwixt Sita and Draupadi; ‘Kalatra’ connected the dual dimensions of emotion betwixt Lord Muruga and his consorts Deivanai and Valli; ‘Ullalume’, an adaptation of Edgar Alan Poe’s haunting poem and their archetypal breakaway from Indian mythology and ‘Echoes of Time’,an immersive and interactive classical creation experience, which had the assemblage moving from country to country experiencing the 4 yugas. Keelaka has besides collaborated with fashionable plan brands specified arsenic Ekaya Benares, Raw Mango, Ogaan and decorator Gaurav Gupta arsenic good arsenic platforms specified arsenic Design ID and the India Art Fair.

Currently, they are processing a caller accumulation rooted successful Tamil poetry, wherever text, creation and euphony are successful changeless dialogue. “We’re moving with caller creation vocabularies, wherever antithetic styles pass and alteration each other. We besides look astatine dependable arsenic much conscionable an accompaniment. We’re drafting from divers soundscapes and genres portion making the musicians progressive characters wrong the storyline,” says Aneesha.

Rebel Ranis will beryllium staged connected April 9 atKamani Auditorium, New Delhi.