Headline :Dancing up a new form

NEW SUNDAY TIME-SHOWTIME
Date :17/10/2004
Page :13
Byline :By R.S. Kamini
Type: Entertainment

A CULTURAL club started by Universiti Putra Malaysia students three years ago is dancing up new steps.
Putra Kalakshetra, now boasting 80 members and bursting with new ideas out of the UPM campus, has been combining traditional Indian dance steps with the cultural forms of Malaysia and even modern dance and thrown in story-telling as well.
Its artistic director R. Ravi Shanker says there is plenty of room for such a dance form.

* What's Putra Kalakshetra all about?
"It involves a diverse dance repertoire. It's like going for musical theatre but what we do is tell a tale through dance. It has traditional Indian dances at its core but you can find a blend of Western and Malaysian dances which we create and choreograph.

* Whose concept was this?
There is a pause before Ravi replies: "Mine", and smiles sheepishly. "Why did we do this? Traditional Indian performers usually never venture from their roots whereas I want my dance concepts and presentation to appeal to the multi-cultural society and at the same time, they will learn a thing or two about our Indian dances."

* What has been the audience's reaction?
"People love our performances because the concept is unique. Some are amazed at how organised we are although we present a few dances at each event We incorporate mainly moves from odissi, kuchipudi and bharatanatyam.

* Is this a full-time thing for you?
"None of us are full-time with Putra. We juggle our time between work, study, life and dance. It is the passion that brings us together."

* How did you develop from a small-time university club to where you are now?
"We initially took part in inter-college competitions and then went on to sign a memorandum of understanding through UPM with some Cultural and Arts Exchange Programmes bodies to perform in Peru, Amsterdam, Thailand and Indonesia. But that was just unrecorded live stage shows. Our appearance on national television was through Astro Vaanavil and TV3 when we were given an opportunity to perform for their in-house productions like talent shows, Padal Thiran Potti and Talking Telephone Numbers.

* Tell us about your dance for the International Tamil Film Awards (ITFA) 2004:
"We danced Swarnabumi or land of gold and this time we had to collaborate with performing arts associations like Lasya Arts, Sai Performing Arts, Sri Rekha Dance School and Stanaka Arts Academy. The dance showcases the seven classical dances of India (odissi,kuchipudi, bharatanatyam, manipuri, kathakkali, mohiniattam and kathak) blended with our Chinese, Portuguese and Orang Asli dances. We used 36 dancers to tell the story of the emergence of Indian traders and the transformation of Malaysia into a rich avenue for arts, culture
and traditions.

* Where do you see yourself and Putra in the coming years?
"I see myself a creator of Indian Broadway and I want to introduce my `story-telling through dance' concept to the whole world."
(END)