Katradi, an initiative of Wind Dancers Belief (India), based mostly out of Chennai, have taken up the reason for training ever since their inception in 2014. To be exact, they take up these causes which were ignored in typical educating, says Sangeeta Isvaran, founding father of Katradi.
“We imagine in kalai mulamma kali which suggests artwork by means of training. All our efforts are in the direction of training in matters that don’t get taught at school corresponding to youngster intercourse abuse, reproductive well being, gender and caste, and far more. We work with girls, kids and a variety of communities,” says Sangeeta.
She provides, “The atmosphere is likely one of the verticals we work below. Our curiosity lies in conservation however from a neighborhood’s perspective on what unusual individuals can do about it. We work with tasks to convey consciousness on a subject and / or discover options from inside the neighborhood on how you can deal with it.”
Why wetlands
Shhh… Hear! was commissioned by Bengaluru-based Pupil Convention for Conservation Science (SCCS), to commemorate their fifteenth anniversary. Put collectively by Sangeeta and Thilagavathi Palani, founding father of Sri Krishna Kattaikkuttu Khuzu, the play shines the highlight on the necessity to shield pure ecosystems.
Kattaikkuttu efficiency by Katradi
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association
In accordance with Sangeeta, yearly the scholars of SCCS maintain a convention and their theme this 12 months is Wetlands Aren’t Wastelands. “When a lake or physique of water begins drying up, it turns right into a marshy patch of land. Since it’s only a wetland and never a forest with safari-worthy wildlife, no one has any respect for it. Folks throw garbage there, the water will get polluted and ultimately, the world is stuffed as much as construct flats.”
Shhh… Hear! centres round creating an understanding of the net of life and of the destruction of nature. “We’re a part of nature, however we have a tendency to consider people as aside from nature. That could be a big a part of our downside,” says Sangeeta.
The protagonists within the play are a few frogs dwelling in a marshland, whereas the villain is a JCB (symbolising improvement or so-called progress). Yama, the god of reality and stability, additionally makes an look bringing the message on how he isn’t the harbinger of demise, since people are seeding destruction throughout and upsetting the stability of Nature.
“It’s a heavy play in a single sense, as a result of the subject we’re coping with isn’t a straightforward one. On the similar time, there may be loads of humour as effectively,” says Sangeeta.
All of the songs in Shhh… Hear! are authentic compositions set to conventional artwork varieties corresponding to kattaikkuttu (rural theatre), oyilattam (people dance), medai nadagam (stage performs), and Bharatanatyam.
Sangeeta (in black sari) and Thilagavathi Palani (seated in entrance) at efficiency utilizing Kattaikkuttu and Bharatanatyam
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association
Though Shhh… Hear! was created for SCCS, Sangeeta says, “We hope as soon as this efficiency is over, we will take it to colleges as a part of an training outreach for youngsters to know that nature isn’t far-off — even a tree exterior your own home is a large ecosystem in itself.”
About Katradi
Whereas Katradi relies out of Chennai and their centre of operations is in Ranipet district, they work in areas together with Manipur, France, Mexico and with Ukranian refugees, utilizing the humanities for training, empowerment and battle decision.
Sangeeta (centre left) in Madagascar with a neighborhood undertaking in Ranomafana Pure Park
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular Association
Sangeeta elabororates how kattaikkuttu differs from therekkuttu or avenue dance. “It’s a-thousand-year-old kind which, requires in depth research with a minimal five-year coaching interval, however resulting from its humble origins it garners zero respect. Different people varieties corresponding to parai too, have a tremendous oral and written historical past, however have been sidelined resulting from a scarcity of “classical” standing.”
The dances, Sangeeta says, have a tremendous vary of motion and talent to speak messages at a fundamental stage. “Oppari or dirges have turn out to be a instrument of resistance and are sung to lament the demise of democracy, justice or a state of being. We carry out in slums and in the course of the pandemic, we visited greater than 80 villages speaking in regards to the vaccines and preventive measures. Folks had been scared due to the faux information, so we create performances utilizing kattaikkuttu, to assist them perceive higher.”
Katradi believes in a various workforce. “Inclusion isn’t one thing you speak about and never follow. Our troupe is different when it comes to gender, caste, neighborhood and financial standing in addition to talents,” says Sangeeta, including their efficiency in Bengaluru on Monday, will mark the arangetram of a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, who will probably be narrating the present in English.
“Songs and drama are an attractive method of constructing data stick in somebody’s thoughts or coronary heart, which is much more vital,” she provides.
Shhh… Hear! will probably be staged at JN Tata Auditorium, IISc, on October 21 between 6 and 7pm. Entry free. For extra data on Katradi, go to www.katradi.org
Revealed – October 20, 2024 10:00 pm IST
