Blending Kalaripayattu and Flamenco to tell the story of women

A poetry dance performance named Bhoomiputri, which blended Flamenco and Kalaripayattu, was staged here at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram recently. Speaking about women and their journey of self- realisation, the poetry dance drama was performed by Flamenco dancer Bettina Castano and Kalari artiste Raam Kumar along with Rahul Aravind, who gave a live mizhavu performance for a segment of the production.
"Back in 2016, when I read Meera Nair's book of poems about her feelings in a relationship, I liked it very much. I asked her if I could use it for a performance and was given the green signal. I spoke to Rajarajeshwari who is part of Nireeksha (a women's theatre group) and she agreed to prepare the script. Within a month she gave me the draft with her own ideas and later I converted it again, imbibing my ideas about what a relationship should be like into it," said Latha Kurien Rajeev, director of the poetry dance production.

Putting music together for the production, Latha says, was very interesting, given that she isn't fond of fusion music personally. "I am not an exponent of fusion. Here we have used mizhavu live for a segment. There were 14 tracks composed for the 14 different segments and only one among them was live while the rest were recorded. Even with the recorded track, we had mizhavu come in," she said. Saju Sreenivas composed the music for the dance production.

"The choreography was done by the artistes as I don't know a fraction of what they know about Flamenco or Kalari. The production itself was a complex process as Flamenco is rhythmic while Kalari is a strict martial art form," added Latha.

'Explores the transformation in women'

About the theme of the dance poetry production, Latha said, "The dance production explores how independent, brilliant women transform into someone else post-marriage. Women are raised to be a certain way and when married they again, fall in line with these expectations that were instilled in them and are trapped within it."