KalaYatra festival: A classical revival of the cultural spirit

Dance is a part of life. I wish that dancers continue to bring joy to all,” says Sonal Mansingh, founder of the Centre for Indian Classical Dances (CICD), which will be presenting the twoday KalaYatra cultural festival starting today. After hosting the event online due to the pandemic, the group is back to live shows this year, on the theme of Ramotsav.

To Mansingh, who is a Padma Vibhushan awardee and Rajya Sabha MP, this comeback of physical festivals is like a “renewal of life”. “Performing arts, especially dance, was one of the worst-hit sections by the Covid-19 pandemic,” she says.

Katha Siya-Ram Ki by Mansingh will be the inaugural presentation, bringing together the spiritual essence of the theme with her distinctive abhinaya. “Such kathas are eternal. And these give scope for me to explore various dimensions of life. It’s not just the story of Ram and Sita. It is a story in a much wider sense,” says Mansingh, who believes that all 365 days should be dance days. Explaining why, she shares, “In the 24 hours of a day, everybody talks with their hands, eyes and gestures. Dance is a part of life.”

The second day of the festival will begin with a showcase of the evolutionary cycle from the Indic lore Dashavatara (the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu), presented by the repertory group of Kamakhya Kalapeeth, CIDC, under Mansingh’s direction. This will be followed by a recital of Pibare Rama Rasam by classical dancer G Ratheesh Babu. “It encapsulates three different episodes from Adhyatma Ramayana,” explains Babu, adding, “Dance is more than just a hobby. God resides within us in the form of dance.”

The festival will close with a Kathakali performance based on the theme Ram Parashuram, which will be performed by the repertory under the direction of Thiruvattar Jagadeesan of The International Centre for Kathakali, Delhi.