Shashi Tharoor's new choreography: Dance diplomacy

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) Diplomacy tends to be practiced in a rather predictable way. But now, Minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has come up with a new concept - dance diplomacy.

"I wanted to give diplomats a feel of our precious cultural heritage. Diplomacy tends to be practiced in rather predictable patterns and I wanted to break free of the mould and try something different," said the minister, who hosted an evening of Bharatanatyam dance at Ganesa Natyalaya in the capital Thursday.

"This is the first time I am experimenting with familiarising ambassadors with Indian culture, I hope it becomes a sustained process," he said.

Bharatanatyam dancer Neha Bhatnagar's rendering of Shivashtakam - a graceful ode to Lord Shiva - took back the ambassador of Egypt to the era when beautiful Indian maidens clad in rich hand-woven silks danced on the premises of ornate south Indian temples - resembling the sculpted silhouettes etched on the sandstone facades.

It is a slice out of time, Ambassador Mohamed Abdel Hamid Higazy mused during the performance hosted for foreign ambassadors.

Bharatanatyam, a combination of emotional projections (bha), melody (ra) and rhythm or beat (tala), originated around 500 BC during the Sangam age as a 'devdasi' ritual in south Indian temples.

"It is a refined kind of art and graceful in the way it explains the spiritual nuances of Indian classical culture and myths. The clothing is refined and the movements lyrical, but the dancers should not let us forget the guru, who trained them," Higazy told IANS.

The hour-long recital-cum-brief lecture was conceived and choreographed by guru Saroja Vaidyanathan as a part of an out-of-the box cultural diplomacy exercise - one of the first of its kind initiated by Tharoor.

The act featured five dancers, Neha Bhatnagar, Nikolina Nikoleski, Surabhi Mahajan, Rashmi Aggarwal and Paranti Baxla.

The performance began with Shivashtakam (ode to Shiva), Pushpanjali, Padam-Chonnadai (a love plea for Lord Krishna), Swaranjali (song and dance combination) and energetic Tilanna-Kadana Kudohulam Mangalam  - the brisk and pure sculpture dance of the Bharatanatyam genre in which dancers create geometric angles in space with their body gestures, one of the three major components of the dance along with Alarippu and Mallari.

"We must thank the Indian government and the minister concerned for the performance. It was a wonderful, colourful, spiritual and folklorish dance where spirituality, visual arts and history all merge with each other. We in Egypt share this spirituality with India through our colours and god," Higazy said.

The "gushing" ambassadors, at least 10 of them mostly from Latin American and Middle Eastern countries, were seated in the first two rows of the cosy performance space which included a stage and a nook for musicians.

Tharoor sat in a special seat upholstered in rich green silk and brocade. After every performance, which was followed by a minute-long explanatory address, the audience broke into lusty applause.

"You can call it the first-of-its kind of diplomatic exercise. It has never been tried before," Tharoor told IANS.

For the ambassador of Brazil, Narco Brandao, the Bharatanatyam experience was "one of elegance and sophistication".

"It speaks of the beauty of Indian culture which is very deep. The expressions of the Bharatanatyam dancers were profound," the ambassador, who has spent two years in India, told IANS.

The ambassador felt that "though both Brazil and India had a rich legacy of dances, the Brazilian dances were full of energy and discipline while the Indian dances were more codefied".

Bharatanatyam doyenne, Saroja Devi, winner of the Padmashri award, summed up the cultural diplomacy exercise by saying: "I wanted to show them what Indian dance is with a bit of an explanation."

"I have 15 foreign students who are learning Indian classical dance. Bharatanatyam is the most beautiful of the dance forms and the most easy to identify with," Saroja Devi told IANS.