Classical dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant to perform at 7 venues in Kerala

Renowned classical dancer Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant will lead a team of performers on a week-long Kerala tour from October 10, presenting her power-packed Bharatanatyam-Kuchipudi production at seven venues from Kannur in the north to down to Kovalam in the south.

Excerpts from the trailblazing ‘Tales from the Bull and the Tiger’ will be staged by ten dancers, bringing to life Ganesha Skanda Devi Parvati and Bhagawan Shiva through poetry, music and philosophy in Sanskrit and Tamil.

The final show in the series, at the prestigious Soorya Festival in the state capital, will feature the full 77 minute version with 23 artistes.

The experimental production, which retells the stories of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati as told by the godly couple’s vahanas Nandi and Simha, has been acclaimed for its riveting choreography backed by precision and aesthetics.

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 by young creative artist Gunjan Ashtaputre and voice by Jayant Dwarkanath.

Padma Shri Dr Ananda, who is the Artistic Director of 1979-founded Shankarananda Kalakshetra in the Telangana capital, is an alumnus of Chennai’s Kalakshetra and a recipient of the Sangeet Natak AkademiPuraskar (2009).

Having served Railways as an IRTS officer, her penchant for harnessing technology for the arts led Ananda to create Natyarambha as a first-of-its-kind Bharanatyam practice app.

The 2017 launched facility has users from students and gurus across the world.

More recently, Ananda came up with cutting-edge digital product named Kutty Kahani. A video-embedded e-book that brings Indic stories by and for children through the prism of art, it caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hailed the unique venture in his Mann ki Baat radio broadcast on June 18.

A sought-after TED speaker who actively engages with young India on a wide range of topics, Ananda gives motivational talks at corporate houses, leadership programs, hospitals, universities and schools.