In February every year, sounds of anklets reverberate through the temple ruins of Khajuraho, reminding one of the erotic pulsations of devadasis from medieval times.
For a week from February 1, this year too, this tiny tourist town of Madhya Pradesh gears up for a dance festival which sees eminent performers from across the country present their art.
Dance had long migrated to closed, congested auditoriums with garish sponsorship banners as background. The Khajuraho Dance Festival is an effort to bring it back to its roots; the temple corridors and open spaces.
The theme for this year’s festival is Legacy, where disciples who learned their art from established gurukuls will dance their inheritance, and thereby, like a ripple in the river, attempt to carry forward the tradition.
The festival this time saw seasoned artistes like Chitra Vishwesaran perform Bharatanatyam and Madhavi Mudgal perform Odissi, while the coming days will see Navtej Singh Johar perform Bharatanatyam and Aditi Mangal Das dance Kathak.
One of the interesting parts of the festival this year was the duets and trios, which saw different dances in conversation. Different styles, rhythm, foot work and ideas danced together, cutting at each other, and fusing together in a new found harmony of moving bodies.
Of interest, thanks to my Kerala roots, were the enchanting duet of Kathakali and Mohiniyattom and the trio of Mohiniyattom, Odissi and Kathak. In the duet, Kalamadalam Piyal as Bhasmasura, Akash Mallik as Shiva and Mandakini Trivedi as Mohini entranced the audience with an innovative rendition of the Bhasmasura-Mohini legend.
The exaggerated drama of Kathakali beautifully contrasted with the austere elegance of Mohiniyattom. The trio was also an absolute pleasure to watch.
The Kathak dancer, Kavitha Dwivedi, kept provoking the percussionist, his fingers kept pace as her feet wove magic. Mohiniyattom performed by Jayaprabha Menon transported me back to Kerala.
Malathi Shyam danced Odissi like a sculpture from the Khajuraho temple walls had come to life, and all three together in a tribute to Shiva,explored new ways to communicate and converge.
This exploration into dance as a language, the finding of new possibilities within traditional structured forms, the engaging dialogue between different grammars of performing and an appreciation of the inevitable differences are perhaps the greatest contributions of this dance fest.
