Sakhi, a celebration of friendship

Vyuti’s artistic director Aranyani Bhargav says Sakhi explores the relationship between the nayika (female protagonist), and her sakhi (friend) who plays a pivotal role in the former’s life in every situation. “Vyuti’s initial work was all technical, and nritta (abstract dance movements with rhythm, but without expression of a theme or emotion) based — and I always knew that our repertoire would not be complete without an abhinaya piece (the main technique used in Natya, the dramatic aspect of a stage performance, including spoken dialogue and mime, to convey meaning and enact narrative). But abhinaya in a group format is quite challenging, because it is so individualistic and personal. I didn’t want everyone to become clones of me, and do abhinaya like I do. But at the same time, group work demands a certain level of coordination, so I had to find a way to let the dancers do abhinaya their own way, and also for the work to be cohesive and not fragmented,” says Aranyani. 

“I thought of Ardhanarishwara, Navarasas, Panchabhootam etc and felt that all of them have been explored before by other dancers and dance companies. But the Ashtanayikas (a collective name for eight types of nayikas or heroines as classified by Bharata in his Sanskrit treatise on performing arts — Natya Shastra) had not been explored so much. And this is why I decided upon Sakhi. While researching on the Ashtanayikas, I found that there was so much focus on the naya ka-nayika relationship, and though the sakhi was ever present, she was not given as much centrality in dance, as she was in music and literature. In fact, in my opinion, she is more important in the life of the female protagonist ( nayi ka ) than even the nayaka or hero. The hero is a fleeting figure — sometimes he’s present, but often he’s absent and quite often, he’s the cause of pain and grief to the nayika. It is the sakhi who holds the nayika together. That friendship between these two pivotal female characters in dance narratives is what Sakhi sought to explore. Sakhi is essentially a celebration of that friendship. I took this concept of the sakhi-nayika friendship and structured the piece like a varnam ,” adds Aranyani whose thesis (while at Oxford University) was on the topic of multiple modernities within Bharatanatyam. Sakhi will be performed at Spaces, Besant Nagar, on November 7 at 7 pm. 

Inspired by all the journeys Aranyani had — her fundamental training and experiences with her guru, veteran dancer Leela Samson, her years of experiencing contemporary dance and other movement vocabularies, her interactions with various dance exponents during her research on dance, and her current concerns with Indian classical dance – she conceived Vyuti in 2013. Aranyani wanted to push the idea of group work in classical dance to a different level through a collective of interweaving bodies. “The main idea behind Vyuti is exploring what it means to dance as a group. Sharing the stage is a very intimate thing — I’ve always believed that. And very often, one sees that in classical dance, group work entails formations of dancers who move in unison projecting towards the audience, but not interacting much with each other. That intimacy of sharing the stage, and of physically interacting with one another became the central theme for Vyuti. Then from there, we looked at exploring the entire  margam or repertoire that way. We have an interactive Alarippu, Jatiswaram and Tillana. We have a piece on the building blocks of dance which is a part of our margam, and now we have Sakhi. I think it is the idea of interaction and touch that sets us apart from other dance companies. And also, it is the fact that we have attempted to bring in a contemporary sensibility without compromising on the Bharatanatyam vocabulary or fusing it with other forms of movement. We are doing Bharatanatyam, not mere fusion. But we’ve just woven modernity into tradition,” explains Aranyani. 

Aranyani rejects the notion that Indian classical dance forms are too rigid and structured, and ultimately too traditional. Introducing interactions among performers is a step in that direction, says Aranyani. “For me, the concept of touch and interaction is very important in group work. What makes performing in a group special and magical for me is that interaction and touch — the chemistry and warmth that emanates when you look into each other’s eyes while performing together rather than looking in each other’s direction but through one another, that comfort when you actually physically touch rather than pretend to touch symbolically. 

I know many classical dancers are trained that way. You are trained to avoid eye contact and touch. But, in my opinion, it defeats the purpose of dancing together if you’re going to spend so much energy and take so much effort to avoid interacting with your fellow dancers. Then you might as well dance alone,” concludes Aranyani.