Bharatanatyam recital to narrate Greek mythological tale

Vyshnavie Sainath, who has been performing Bharatanatyam during the Margazhi season in the city for at least 12 years now, decided to use dance to narrate a Greek myth this time around. The daughter of renowned Bharatanatyam artiste, Rajeswari Sainath, says she was intrigued by the story of Roman poet Ovid’s narrative poem, Metamorphoses, and took up the task of adapting it for a dance performance.

“This story of Metamorphoses revolves around a misogynist sculptor, Pygmalion, who falls in love with his own creation Galatea, a beautiful feminine ivory statue. The sculptor gets every detail right and spends a lot of time in creating Galatea, putting in his views of what he thinks an ideal woman should look like. The sculpture then comes to life and Pygmalion falls in love with her. When I read this story, it piqued my interest. I discussed to work along with my mother, also my guru, on adapting it to a dance presentation,” recollectsVyshnavie, 28.

First published in the year 8 AD, Metamorphoses, which is Ovid’s reworking of Greek and Latin myths, is considered one of the most influential works of all time. It is said to have inspired authors like William Shakespeare and Dante too. The story of Pygmalion and Galatea has inspired hundreds of writings, plays, music and films as well. Renowned English dramatist WS Gilbert’s stage play, Pygmalion and Galatea, in 1871 was one of his greatest hits. Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw too took inspiration from the story for his play, Pygmalion.

Vyshnavie’s upcoming adaptation titled ‘Vinodham: The Story of a Statue’ has been tweaked to suit the architecture of our land, she points out. “Tamil Nadu has a lot of amazing statues. So, I’ve adapted the story of Pygmalion and Galatea from the book to settings that people here can relate to,” says thedancer, who is also trained in Odissi, Kuchipudi, Kalaripayattu and contemporary dance styles.

In her 90-minute-long solo Bharatanatyam presentation set in five scenes, Vyshnavie will perform the roles of both the sculptor and the statue. “It is not common to have a Greek or Roman myth adapted to Bharatanatyam,” she admits, adding, “I found that the story is easy to be understood by anyone. I also wanted to explore the work with a social relevance.”

“Even though the popular perception of classical dance is that it is rigid in its form, adaptations like these enable us to express what we want to. The boundary of classical dance is expanding. A lot of veteran artistes, too, are welcoming the change of using dance to express our thoughts, which is encouraging for the youngsters taking up the classical art form. The challenge is in expressing views, while still sticking to the foundations of Bharatanatyam,” asserts Vyshnavie, who is also related to mridangam maestro Karaikudi Mani, who introduced her to laya (rhythm).

The young danseuse says growing up in a family of performing artistes, she found her passion for dance from a very young age. “I started learning dance from my mother when I was young. By the time I was 15, I was performing dance recitals during the Margazhi season at various venues,” she recalls. “Performing Bharatanatyam in themes like this one motivates me and I hope I can inspire others too,” Vyshnavie remarks.