Russian play ‘Swan Lake’ to be adapted in the City

Arts & Culture City

Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore to witness ‘Hansika,’ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s adaption of ‘Swan Lake’

By Swarnali Chakraborty

Bangalore, March 20, 2018: ‘Hansika’ an Odissi dance performance based on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Russian play, ‘Swan Lake’ will be performed by renowned Odissi dancer, Sharmilla Mukherjee at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleswaram.

Sharmilla Mukherjee, a master of the art form said, “Foreign plays have often been adapted in Indian theatres, but classical dance has generally revolved around traditional stories. This is one of the first attempts at introducing western themes in classical dance”.

Mukherjee will be performing this play with 19 other dancers based out of Bangalore.

Abhaya Laxmi, one of her accompanists said, “We have been working on this performance since last year, it is a dance ballet that includes all the nuances of the classical dance like raga, laya and rasa. Some parts of the music have been taken from Tchaikovsky’s original play but we have heavily Indianised most parts of the play.”

Suranjana, another dancer accompanying Sharmilla in this performance, said that the same play was also performed by a Mohiniattam dancer but they used  Tchaikovsky’s music in its entirety. “We on the other hand have modified the play to make it more suitable for the Indian audience,”  she added.

Talking about foreign adaptations in classical dance, Suranjana added that Birju Maharaj had also once presented a Kathak ensemble on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Odissi, which is a classical dance form of Odisha has now become quite popular in Bangalore, said Sharmilla Mukherjee who also runs a dance school in the city.

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