A review of “Impressions of Bhima”
Directed by Veenapani Chawla At British Council Division
It’s been almost ten years since Veenapani Chawla attended Eugenio Barba’s theatre laboratory. Ten years, two substantial productions and a few small pieces for local audiences in Pondicherry, where she now lives. Not much, one could assume, for the quiet girl whose passion for theatre first began while doing backstage work in college productions in Delhi’s Miranda House.
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8 minute read | 1646 words
#comment, #contemporary dance, #contemporary theatre, #kalari, #kalarippayattu, #martial arts
The history and practise of the Indian martial art Kalarippayattu
Dawn. Outside, a cool “half-light” heralds the ritual of prayer, as temple bells wake a sleeping village. Inside, however, the flickers of light from a solitary oil lamp light up red earthen walls and the mud-packed floor under an ageing thatched roof — mute witnesses to the ritual of combat.
Surrounded by the silent aura of warm red earth, two glistening, oil-soaked bodies come forward slowly, like leopards about to attack.
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22 minute read | 4508 words
#comment, #contemporary dance, #contemporary theatre, #kalari, #kalarippayattu, #martial arts
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