The culmination of a five-day dance residency programme jointly led by Bimbavati Devi and Arnab Bandopadhyay saw the staging of three performances at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity’s amphitheatre that stood out for their innovative themes, disciplined body alignments, and expressive group choreography attentive to the aesthetics of the classical tradition. Shivashakti, designed by Bandopadhyay and performed by his troupe, Darpani, was an elaborate meditation on the concept of ardhanarishwara — the divine union of the creator and the energy of creation. The dancers articulated the complementary energies of the masculine and the feminine through a balanced mix of tandava’s dynamism and lasya’s soft lyricism. The production, composed by Sutapa Talukdar and Bichitrananda Swain, had a striking visual symmetry and sustained synchronisation through complex transitions and layered formations. The dancers’ black-and-red clothing lent the piece a stunning iconography while their angular arm positions and statuesque freezes reinforced the philosophy of cosmic balance.
This group also presented Krshnanubhava; it was expansive in terms of narrative scope. Drawing inspiration from Vallabhacharya’s Madhurashtakam, the piece traced the many forms of Krishna — divine, playful, astute statesman. Bandopadhyay, in the titular role, demonstrated remarkable agility, imagination and emotional nuance in embodying the shifting shades of the divine.
Devatmayi (picture) by Manipuri Nartanalaya, the third offering, was a tour de force in conception and execution. Exploring the idea of the mother goddess, the dancers, here too in red and black, led by Bimbavati Devi, brought alive the duality of the feminine spirit — calm as well as fierce —underlying the contrasting energies of Usha and Kali. The poignant strains of the pena and the pung combined with chants from the Vedas and the Puranas provided a stirring musical accompaniment to the portrayal of the evolution of the sacred. Devi’s choreography had a fluid, visual rhythm and incorporated diverse elements like earthen pots, the Manipuri martial art practice, Thang-ta, and threads related to femininity into the centrepiece, reflecting her impassioned and devout psyche.