Choreographer: Mythili Prakash
In legend, the demon Manisha was granted a boon, meaning that he could not be killed by man or God. Having been told he could not be granted immortality, he allowed for a loophole that he could be slain by a woman or Goddess, believing that they would be too weak to ever succeed.
The Hindu story continues with a pantheon of male Gods creating a new Goddess to destroy Manisha. That story is not literally represented in Mythili Prakash’s She’s Auspicious, but it has triggered an exploration of godhood, femininity, control and independence.
The piece starts as a solo work, Prakash miming the work of a sculptor, moulding invisible female shapes within a makeshift scaffolding structure. Then, gradually, she adopts the form of the sculpture itself, coming to life as she becomes whole. There’s an implication of femininity being shaped by outside, masculine, forces.
Once complete, this new form steps out from the scaffolding, at which point we see Prakash’s command of Bharatanatyam dance. Accompanied by a medley of music, we slip between pure dance and some more literal mime, of motherhood, love, loss and grief. The transitions between Godhood and womanhood are not synchronised with changes in the musical accompaniment, further blurring the lines between mortality and immortality.
Gradually, Prakash is joined on stage by seven women, who bring musical instruments and festoon the area with garlands. The played-in music is progressively replaced with live performance through song, music and percussion. But in so doing, Prakash’s character is mollified to the point of paralysis, carried back to the statue’s original pedestal. It is as if the act of worship ossifies her, reducing her to a plaster representation. Her hand is held out in blessing, but it is a passive action, her worshippers lining up to position themselves as if this static idol is resting her hand on them.
When she steps down again, it is in full warrior form. Prakash illustrates the versatility of her dance style, using the same moves of hand and foot to express war and rage as she does peace and love. As the musicians’ percussion becomes ever more frenetic, beating more scaffolding with sticks, it feels as if the rage within Prakash’s goddess is flowing through to her adherents.
In the finale, the goddess returns to the scaffolding structure from which she first emerged, but the fire and passion of her warlike role cause it to crash around her, killing her in the process. As with so much of She’s Auspicious, the metaphors within the dance are as elusive as they are varied; it could be taken to mean that the wrath of war is self-destructive.
One thing is certain, though. Mythili Prakash’s ability to use Bharatanatyam and Indian classical dance to tell powerful stories is unparalleled.
Continues until 2 March 2025
