Priyadarsini Govind on the making of ‘Yavanika’

A creative endeavour is born out of reflection and meditation. A theme or an idea takes shape after going through a thought process and journeying through time and space. It also involves intense exchanges among inter-related genres of creative expression. At the end of it all, the artiste finds his or her individual self and connect with the art. And this finally finds its way into the performance.

What’s a performance? How does an artiste deal with the challenges of making the most of those moments? A performance is the internal and external experiences that an artiste shares with the audience. While doing so a performer discovers, innovates, and evolves to create a unique aesthetic ambience.

Priyadarsini Govind’s dance film,  Yavanika, captures the aura of a performance. It takes you back to the time when she dealt with the challenges posed by the pandemic and the state of her mind and body then. As the world came to a standstill, Priyadarsini began engaging with the camera as she had to send a recorded performance to the Singapore-based Apsaras Arts.

Priyadarsini, Apoorva Jayaraman and Shweta Prachande
| Photo Credit: Courtesy: Yavanika

She approached the award-winning director, Sruti Harihara Subramanian, who had directed and conceptualised the documentary series —  Harmony with A.R. Rahman, and  A Far Afternoon on painter Krishen Khanna.

“ Yavanika looks at the concept of the self, first identifying it with the physical body and then with the will, the mind and the ego,” says Priyadarsini.

As the title suggests,  Yavanika – The Screen of Illusion, the film also explores the idea of illusion through a vital aspect of a stage performance, the curtain, that both hides and reveals. “I collected poems from various languages that talk about the body and the energy within. It is this energy that cultures have shaped into evocative sequences of physical activities that result in dance. I let the camera capture this primal energy and the subtle layers of emotions and movements to reach out to the audience. So I began to work on the choreography. My students, Apoorva Jayaraman and Shweta Prachande, joined in this exploration.”

Though conceived for the stage initially,  Yavanika was reworked for the camera.

“I began to look at the work from new angles. I found a great collaborator in Sruti. It was exciting to create something for a medium I had not explored before,” says Priyadarsini.

Rajkumar Bharathi has composed the music, and Viraj Sinh Govil is the cinematographer.

The core of classical dance may be tradition, but it has a contemporary appeal too. And  Yavanika tells you how.

The film can be watched on Shaale for ten days from September 16.

The writer is a cultural activist and Gandhian scholar.