“Harmony in Diversity: Pratiroop – Empowering Indian Classical Dance for a Cause”

Pratiroop- Warrier Foundations engaging efforts in the field of Indian classical dance to enable the next-gen artists to seek their inner creativity under a unique mentorship program. Dancing for a cause – thus supporting the underprivileged children of the NGO through the crowdfunding effort.

Indian Classical Dances have always been an elaborate affair, with prime venues being sought after by artists. The behind-the-scenes process of any production or project is rarely known to anyone other than the artists involved in the production. But with the current limitations on social gatherings, dance performances have been confined to personal spaces such as living rooms or in the case of a lucky few, studios. Innovating in these times of limited space and resources, is Divya Warier, a mohiniyattam artist and one of the trustees of the Warrier Foundation, an NGO dedicated to service of the underprivileged members of society.

Divya launched the Pratiroop mentorship program, a novel project, aiming at getting senior performing artists, of various classical dance styles, mentored by Legendary Gurus from a completely different classical dance style, than their own. Not only were the Gurus Legendary, but even the mentees were artists who were senior & popular practitioners & performers, take a look:

Bharatanatyam Guru. Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan mentored Kuchipudi dancer Prateeksha Kashi

Kuchipudi Guru. Smt. Vyjayanthi Kashi mentored Kathak dancer Nishtha Budhlakoti,

Kathak Guru. Smt. Prerana Shrimali mentored Bharatanatyam dancer Keerthana Ravi,

Odissi Guru. Smt. Sharmila Biswas mentored Mohiniyattam dancer Divya Warier,

Mohiniyattam Guru. Dr.Neena Prasad mentored Odissi dancer Rohini Banerjee.

This Unique Project was successful only because of team teamwork of Pratiroop which included Pratibha Jagannathan, Ramesh Vasu, Vidya Pradeep, Keerthana Ravi, KeerthiKumar & spearheaded under the dynamic leadership of Divya Warier.

Rohini Banerjee has been performing under her Guru Sharmila Biswas for many years now and she calls Pratiroop, “ a challenging project which pushed her out of her comfort zone but a journey which was equally beautiful and unique. Rohini, who was mentored by Mohiniyattam Guru Dr. Neena Prasad is enamored by her mentor’s ‘Netrabhinaya’ and is looking forward to being able to learn more about it.

Not all mentees had a smooth run though, especially since everything was virtual and getting artists for the music was an ordeal. Nishtha Budhlakoti, disciple of Guru Prerana Shrimali, had challenges in not only recording the music but also reshooting her video to align with the vision of her mentor Guru Smt. Vyjayanthi Kashi. “ This experience has been new for me and different from what I have been doing so far. Though it was very challenging for me initially, with help from my mentor, I was able to implement her vision finally.

Kabir had always been on the mind of Keerthana Ravi, a Bharatanatyam dancer learning under Guru. Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan. When she was placed under the mentorship of Guru. Prerana Shrimali, everything clicked. Keerthana was able to jump right into the poetry of Kabir with the help of Preranaji who had already done a lot of work on Kabir. Keerthana shares that “ Preranaji gave me the full liberty to explore the piece the way I wanted to and she willingly shared with me her experiences with Kabir’s compositions, that helped me give life to my piece.”

It was a dream come true for Prateeksha Kashi, a Kuchipudi dancer, daughter, and disciple of Smt. Vyjayanthi Kashi. She was ecstatic to be mentored by Guru Rama Vaidyanathan who she says, “ helped her understand how Kuchipudi can depict an abstract theme, elaborated by metaphors rather than mythological stories” She enjoyed this approach to choreography which was new to her.

“ Why I choose Hidimbi.I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. The character Hidimbi provided that opportunity.As Didi explained…Hidimbi is a single mother, a woman who has gone against her community and married Bhima, a Kshatriya prince. Yet she brought up her son with the basic knowledge and ethics of her community.” says Divya Warier, a Mohiniyattam artist and disciple of Dr. Neena Prasad.

Guru Sharmila Biswas says- “ we were dealing with a kind of motherhood we have never seen. We were dealing with a cannibal, and trying to justify it, from her perspective. We were dealing with a woman with simple but strong likes and dislikes.” Divya has put in endless hours of research, thanks to the analytical approach of her mentor, and has not shied away from incorporating elements that are not traditionally used in Mohiniyattam performances.

The process of mentorship was shared with the viewers through Warrier Foundation’s YouTube channel, as were the final performances thus reaching across a global viewership and rave reviews about each artist’s solo presentation. The project, which was powered by Indian Raga and received blessings from stalwarts of the Indian Classical Dance Fraternity, was also a fundraiser for enabling remote education of Warrier Foundation’s underprivileged children and was able to generate more than Rs.1 Lakh on their crowdfunding platform on GiveIndia.

By Pratibha Jagannathan