The ongoing
Serendipity Arts Festival, has looked at gender issues, as well as LGBTQ+ community, examining the
challenges and pressure of heteronormative societies, considering their impact
on contemporary India and confronting the laws which question the legitimacy of
diverse sexualities.
“These are some of
the many projects at this year’s festival examining effects of gender on
artistic practice, looking at the work of LGBTQ+ movements across the country,
and their role in mobilising public awareness and community consciousness about
equal and fair rights for citizens. Projects such as Parayan Maranna Kadhakal,
Queen-size, Gentlemen’s Club and Lavani Queens… Double Mazaa! are some of the
productions at the Festival that addresses these themes,” said the organisers.
The third day marked the inauguration of the DB Football Ground,
as part of the event. Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard General
Insurance and the Festival sponsor said:
“We at ICICI Lombard
are excited to be the official presenting sponsor for the third edition of
Serendipity Arts Festival. Through this association, our endeavor is to
contribute to the growing art culture in the country. We believe that this is
an opt platform that provides emerging artists the opportunity to showcase
their brilliance.”
DB Ground witnessed
the impressive dance event, titled ‘Movement and Stills’, an experimental idea
based on challenging the physical energies to create a contemporary dance
piece. “The vocabulary of Kathak has innumerable patterns of lyrical
movements—at times slow, at times crisp. The structure of the dance is based on
different taals, and the rhythmic composition ends on the same, or the first
beat of any given taal with a position of still, thereby forming of a static
pose. The name of the production is derived from the style of Kathak made
popular by the renowned dancer Kumudini Lakhia, which is designed around movements
and stills,” added the organisers.
Elsewhere, the
riveting theatre discipline at the festival saw the play titled ‘Say What?’
being staged.
A performance on
communicating beyond words, Say What? focused on the interaction between two
people who slide between using and abandoning codified language. As the
audience encountered various conversations that are set up in space using sign
language as a point of entry, the role of gesture was reinterpreted and
demystified within the realm of communication. By lending itself to abstract
proportions, this piece opened up a world of meaning-making that is both
embodied and visceral in nature.
Another play – ‘
Akshayambara’ that was also staged, questioned the multiple interpretations of
gender. “Drawing from research and personal experience, the performance
imagines a reversal of roles in the popular Yakshagana plot of Draupadi
Vastrapaharana. A constant shift of power takes place between the actors as
they engage in a tussle that blurs the boundaries of stage and reality, male
and female, thereby exploring the con icts around tradition, gender, power and
morality,” added the organisers.
Moving to visual
arts, there was a very interesting exhibition titled ‘Intimate Documents’-
which focused on the ways, the photograph continues to create meaning. Intimate
Documents showcased seven deeply engaged contemporary photography practices in
South Asia, which examine the renewed visual language of the photograph.
Recognising the shifting registers both of the medium as well as of the
personal, they carve out precise ways in which the photograph continues to
reproduce a world in flux.
And
for those who wanted to check out the music scene at the festival, they were in
for a treat. ‘Boombay Djembe Folas’, an exciting and energetic group of
drummers who play traditional rhythms from West Africa, who are considered to
be the pioneers of this form of music in Mumbai, gave a reverberating
performance of rhythm and percussion. And in another stellar show, the Grammy
nominated songwriter and L.A. based singer Raja Kumari, who has collaborated
with Gwen Stefani, Iggy Azalea and Fifth Dimension, showcased her repertoire,
which was a mix of R&B, hip-hop and Asian music.
