Dance of the door

Hyderabadis eagerly look forward to Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival in November. It is the time when some of the best theatre productions are brought from all over the country and at times from around the world to celebrate the revival of Urdu theatre in Hyderabad.

This year’s ongoing festival featured ‘Dwaram’, an innovative dance-theatre production presented by Vani Ganapathy, a renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, on November 11 at Ravindra Bharathi. With the joint choreographic efforts of Vani and Satyanarayana Raju, a Bharatanatyam dancer, the dance production was far beyond anybody’s expectation. A two hour mindboggling performance by both the dancers against the backdrop of an aesthetic set had the small audience in rapt attention.

The vibrancy and the vigour of the dance were matched by the beautiful costumes, music and the delineation of the theme. ‘Dwaram’ described the impressions and reminisces of a door. It was the biography of a door in all its variations - the pancha maha dwarams presented were: Raja Dwaram, the door of a palace; Veera Dwaram, the door of the fort; Gruha Dwaram, the door of the humble abode or dwelling; Deva Dwaram, the door of the temple; Atma Dwaram, the door of the soul, the inner door.

Each of the five doors spoke of the tales, experiences, feelings and memories that they had seen, witnessed and experienced. Drawing from rich Hindu mythology, the dancers wove familiar stories into the theme, using masterpieces of great saints, poets and music composers.

Conceived by Vani Ganapathy, ‘Dwaram’ had Usha RK’s interesting compering (standing in a smaller, side door that opened facing the audience). Music was composed, sourced and sung by DS Srivatsa, who was also on the nattuvangam. Shubha Santosh’s veena stood out. Lingaraju on mridangam and Mahesh Swamy on flute gave able support.

Surprisingly, the dance fraternity of the city, except for a couple of dancers, was missing at such an enlightening staging. Certainly, the wonderful dance was meant to reach aficionados and connoisseurs of the city, for them to appreciate and benefit through a true learning experience. Such productions are as hard to come by as those exotic flowers that rarely bloom.