I have always felt that dancers play with energy. The energy that is felt through out the cosmos. Musicians use instruments to play with that energy.. Artists use paints and canvas. We... dancers... become instruments and use our bodies to play with this energy...
What is this energy? In Hindu Philosophy it may be known as Shakti.. or Prana.. For me what best describes it is the Taoist term Qi (Chi) energy. The life source that flows through the universe and through us. Dancers not only play with it.. but try to become one with it. The finest of dancers achieve this beautifully.
As a rasika (admirer) I am always looking for this in a dancer.
And as a film maker I truly wanted to capture this energy and that was the birth of this dance video. I had watched movement all my life and what I see in a dancer is beyond just the dancer. I hoped to show this through this video.
The idea came together in a matter of months. Artists who I had met via the internet joined this project. I met all of them except Kavya Muralidharan for the first time on this set.
Film Maker Cinematographer Pradeep Kalipurayath came on board to this project 3 or 4 days before the shoot. It was something that fell together on its own accord like most Shastram projects. Miraculously even Chidambaram opened its door as the backdrop for this dance video. Never in a million years could I have asked for a better environment to make this happen. And that too on a day when the moon eclipsed the sun, we were able to shoot around the temple the entire day, when usually it would have been very difficult to set foot on the hot floor.
The production itself was an intense 3 day shoot which went from Chidambaram to Chennai and I was blessed with a very hard working team from Poorman Productions Navneeth Krishnan and Hemanth Atluri and a group of very talented and professional dance artists who had blind faith in art and came from all corners of India to make this production come to life.
Below are some photographs of the behind the scenes of this production. Photography by Mahesh Kumar, graded by Pradeep Kalipurayath. This was most definitely an unforgettable project and it will always remain a favourite.
Ghirija Jayarraj
