A dance production that celebrates a woman, even if she’s a ‘demoness’

An experimental dance production that mixes elements of Odissi and Yakshagana, Shurpanaki is city-based dancer Vandana Supriya Kasaravalli’s retelling of a snippet from the Ramayana’s Aranya Kanda segment. Conceptualised and choreographed by Vandana and scripted by Apurva Kasaravalli, the story is told from Shurpanaki’s point of view.
“The piece is my interpretation of her story.According to me, what happened to Shurpanaki was wrong. Even though she is a rakshasi (demoness), to me, she is a woman and like any woman, she had her wants and desires. But they played with her emotions,” Vandana shares, adding that here, Shurpanaki won’t be treated as a demoness, but as a woman.
“Usually, when people tell her story, they make fun of her. But when we talk about Sita or Radha, they are all portrayed as heroines. Why can’t Shurpanaki also be treated like that?” she asks.
Bringing different forms together
For this production, Vandana collaborates with a Bengaluru-based Yakshagana artiste, Krishnamurthy Thunga, who’s been practising for over 35 years. Talking of how this one is different from her previous productions, Vandana adds, “This doesn’t have the typical Odissi elements. Instead, there is dance, theatre and also Yakshagana. Besides, Odissi is usually done in Odiya, Sanskrit or Hindi. But in this piece, I have done everything in Kannada. I have not done theatre before, so this would be my experimental work in every way. As dancers, we just dance to the music. Here, I also get to speak, which is something I have not done before. That's what excites me. I'm going to talk about Shurpanaki’s feelings. And the Yakshagana artiste plays my friend.”
Ahead of its premiere in the city this Saturday, Vandana notes, “People in Bangalore appreciate art a lot and all my gurus here encourage these experiments. I have been performing here for so many years, so I’m excited to see how people receive this,” shares Vandana who’s been in the field for over 15 years.
It’s taken her more than a year to put this piece together. “I take my time to create something. I can’t work for two or three months and then go on stage. It took almost a year to understand the form because Yakshagana is something that I have only seen before, but not worked with.”