Naga Mandala

Adapted from the folk tale Naga mandala by Girish Karnad, this dance production uses the gigi pada where artists become narrators, actors and storytellers.

In depicting chauvinism of rural India where women still lack a voice, the story revolves around a newlywed couple. The protagonist Rani is sad and lonely because of her husband’s disinterest in her. One day she is led into a mystic forest where she finds a flower to create a love potion. However, this potion is eventually thrown onto an ant hill and unbeknownst to Rani, a shape-shifting snake lives in this ant hill. The snake falls in love with Rani and treats her like a queen.

The audience are left with the questions on Rani’s mind—does she make a choice or let society decide for her? Is the snake now part of her husband, like two sides of the same coin? The essence of the choreography unfolds in four sections: Suruli (the loop), Hanati (the inner desires), Aakasmika (there are no accidents) and Dwanda (the duality), revealing the emotions of Rani, her husband and the shape-shifting snake.

Gigi pada is a prominent form of folk music from North Karnataka. Here, the female singer plays the drum along with two other male artists, one of whom plays a string instrument while the other plays the cymbals. The topics they sing about vary from folklore to social issues to create awareness.

The choreography of this work adopts the storytelling quality of the gigi pada, where narrators use the phrases gigi/gagiya gi to connect the points of the narrative.

There will be a post show talk on 18 and 19 November after the performance.

Credits

Concept and lyrics

Parshwanath Upadhye

Choreography

Adithya PV

Shruti Gopal

Parshwanath Upadhye

Light design

Keerti Kumar

Music recording

Aravind studio, Bangalore

Sound engineer

P Nagaraj

Mridangam

Harsha Samaga

Vocals

Chandana Bala Kalyan

Rohith Bhat Uppoor

Sri Lakshmi Belmannu

Violin

Pradesh Achar

Narayan Sharma

Flute

Raghunandan Ramakrishna

Mahesha Swamy

Rakesh Dath

Sitar

Suma Rani

Veena

Shubha Santosh

Kanjeera and pads

Karthik Vydhathri

Pranav Dath

Stills and video

Aj Dance photography

Arjun Jith