Spreading the message of clean India

Keeping in view Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of 'Clean India', (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan), Kavita Thakur and group will be enthralling the Delhi audience with a dance ballet. The performance will give out a strong social message in a beautiful way. The 40-45 minutes performance will be staged as a part of the much awaited Lalit Arpan festival, on October 1, 2019, at India Habitat Centre.

Sharing the titbits of event, Padmashri Guru Shovana Narayan, who is also the organiser says: "This year, the festival has been dedicated to the 150th year birth celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi and the 111th year birth celebrations of Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' – the former dedicated his life to winning freedom for his countrymen; while the latter worked to invoke national spirit within people through his fiery poems. The two ballets – 'Rashmirathi' dance ballet by Shovana Narayan and Asavari Repertory, and 'Swachh Bharat' dance ballet by Kavita Thakur and group – will feature ideas of the two great personalities to whom the festival is dedicated."

Expectations from audience…

"This festival is an ongoing celebration for us, which we do every year without any expectations. We perform and render services with dedication. We have trust in the audience and their interest towards classical performing arts that's what brings inner peace. All this is very motivating for us and we find our happiness in it."

Challenges...

"Challenges in holding any festival majorly comprise of the selection of theme for the festival, selection of artists, arrangement of resources to meet the expenses, etc. This festival will see coming together of few of the brilliant artists from across the country. What makes it one of the kind is the fact that besides providing young artists a platform to showcase their talent, the event also gives them an opportunity to work alongside the seniors of the field and perform with the best of their abilities."

Enacting such a ballet must have been challenging. So, Millennium Post also interacted with Kavita Thakur, to learn more about how she and her group prepared for the performance this year.

"Through this act, we are trying to convey that we can achieve this cleanliness mission by being the responsible citizen. We need to give a serious thought of getting up from the level of caste, creed, and religion and work towards it.

The group will be experimenting with different and innovative ways of spreading this message so that even common man can understand and imbibe this spirit."

But what has been biggest challenge for the group?

"To give a performance – which conveys the social message– in only 40 minutes," says Kavita.

"It is a tough subject to execute through classical dance styles, as we have some limits. The challenge usually is the introduction. To have appropriate literature and use properties aesthetically to maintain the level of classical dances adds to the challenges," she explains.

"Since it is a multi-dance presentation having Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Chauu and Contemporary – technique is used in an innovative way between the lyrics. The ballet was presented for the first time on October 2, 2016, for NDMC. Since then, the much-appreciated ballet has been performed innumerable times for masses"

Kavita and her group are expecting a good response this time too. "Lalit Arpan festival is a very prestigious festival and the audience will be of a very high standard. Keeping in view all these factor, many changes on many levels have been done to maintain the level of the performances," she states.