Superb rendering of Tagore’s poems into ballets

Posted by: N D Sharma on: November 21, 2011

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Rendering poems into ballet requires talent and perseverance on the part of the director as well as the actors. Alakhnandan and his troupe did a superb job of making theatrical performance of Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry at Bharat Bhavan of Bhopal with the assistance of Dr Vijaya Sharma, who directed the choreography. Selection of music was made by Alakhnandan himself.

Alakhnandan

Alakhnandan had selected, with the help of Pushan Bhattacharya, nearly a score of Tagore’s poems representing all shades of human sentiment – love, anger, laughter, romance, depression and the children’s innocence. He depended on the translations of Hazariprasad Dwivedi, Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’, Hanskumr Tiwari and Bhawani Prasad Mishra.
Images from the ballets:

A playwright and Hindi poet of repute, Alakhnandan, 63, is also a master in the field of children’s theatre. He started his theatre career as an actor and after a thorough and field study of the folk and traditional theatre forms of North India, got into theatre direction. He has broken new grounds to recreate the Bundelkhandi Swang with an innovation on cotemporary stage. He is highly regarded for his innovations and poetic approach in theatre direction.
He was awarded the Shikhar Samman for theatre by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2006. Earlier he was selected for Senior Fellowship by the Department of Culture, Government of India for reinventing the Bundelkhandi Swang in contemporary theatre practice. his other laurels include Master Fida Hussain Narasi Samman, Shreshtha Kala Acharya Samman (Madhuban, Bhopal) and Life Time Achievement Award (Rangadhar, Bhopal)
He is a co-founder of Bharat Bhavan’s Rangmandal and was Assistant Director of Rangmandal (1981 – 88) under the icon of Indian theatre, B.V. Karanth and worked with thespians like B.V. Karanth, K.N. Pannikar, and Fritz Bennewitz. He was invited by the Sangeet Natak Akademies to perform at the National Theatre Festival in Delhi in 1986. He was later invited to perform at the Akademies National Festivals held at Bangaluru, Dharwar, Bijapur, Belgaon, and Gulbarga, (Karnataka). He has been nominated on the governing bodies of various organisations in several States.
Alakhnandan’s publications include Chanda Bedni, Ujbak Raja Teen Dakait, Swang Shakuntala (plays), Budhdhi Bahadur, Murkha Shiromani, Narad Ji Phanse Chakallas me (children’s plays) and Ghar Nahin Pahunch Pata (collection of poems).

Tags: Alakhnandan, B V Karanth, Bharat Bhavan, Dr Vijaya Sharma, Fritz Bennwitz, Hanskumar Tiwari, Pushan Bhattacharya, Rabindranath Tagore