Renowned classical dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant of Hyderabad will stage her Bharatanatyam-Kuchipudi production Tales from the Bull and the Tiger at Kerala Kalamandalam, Cheruthuruthy, on Thursday.
Excerpts from the work will be staged at the Koothambalam of the Kalamandalam at 7 p.m., bringing to life Ganesha, Skanda, Parvati and Siva through poetry, music and philosophy in Sanskrit and Tamil. Ten dancers will take part.
The experimental production retells the stories of Lord Siva and Parvati as told by their mounts Nandi and Simha respectively.
Along with Dr Jayant, the main performers are Mithun Shyam, Aditi Rao, Poojitha Namburi, Archita Bhat, Srividya Sripathi, Neha Sathanapalli and Ridhisri Yadav, besides Cameo Sreekanth on the lights.
Choreographed by the Hyderabad-based danseuse herself, ‘Tales from the Bull and the Tiger’ has its musical soundscape composed by Sathiraju Venumadhav and I.V. Renukaprasad. Digital design is by Gunjan Ashtaputre and voice is by Jayant Dwarkanath.
D., Jayant, a Padma awardee and artistic director of the Shankarananda Kalakshetra in Hyder abad, is an alumnus Kalakshetra and a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (2009). Having served Railways as an IRTS officer, her penchant for harnessing technology for the arts led her to create Natyarambha, a first-of-its-kind Bharatanatyam practice app.
She recently came up with another digital product named Kutty Kahani, a video-embedded e-book that brings stories by and for children through the prism of art.
She will be having presentations in five districts. After Kalamandalam, a performance will be held near Tripunithura on October 13 and the final show in the series, the full 77-minute version with 23 artistes, at Soorya Festival.