IT IS YOU , at Kalakshetra Manipur
The grounds, roof, stage, kitchen and the people of Kalakshetra have held deep significance for Our Theatre Collective (OTC) since its inception. Regulars to OTC studio might remember the two documentaries- Theatre of the Earth by Oinam Doren and Ima Sabitri by Bobo Khuraijam and conversations that were screened in 2022 that shared a closer look at Kalakshetra’s work budding from the deep mind of Late Heisnam Kanhailal and an observational piece where Ima shares what acting and her life has been like for her, respectively. But the threads binding these two spaces go far back in time.
Artistic Director and Founder of OTC, Vivek Vijayakumaran, in his early days of performance training had ended up at Kalakshetra for a masterclass and found himself under the tutelage of Late Heisnam Kanhailal. He returned many times in the further years to learn, talk, live with and seek guidance from the towering performance art couple Ima and Kanhailal. Then, to showcase the piece IT IS YOU at Kalakshetra was a matter of great honour, especially with his co performer Tyson being an active and integral part of the Kalakshetra ensemble.
A culmination of two and a half years of work, ideation, exploration and execution of a non verbal performance around the theme of one’s responsibility in the current systems and systems of the past to navigate between conformity and individualistic impulses. Having had many iterations of exploration, the piece as it stands now was welcomed with open arms, smiles and provoked imaginations and interpretations by the audience gathered at the Studio Theatre, Kalakshetra. It was our absolute honour to have Bobo Khuraijam introduce the piece while Ima Sabitri and Heisnam Tomba were in the audience and shared their appreciation for the performance at the end of it.
While the largest amount of the 20 days stay at Kalakshetra was dotted with recisions, final logistical decisions and on stage rehearsals undertaken by Tyson and Vivek, there was time and space for stepping out of the theatre and experiencing days in larger Manipur. Experiencing the love of the Kalakshetra troupe in addition to the words of encouragement and provocation through questions about the piece ensured that we come back to Bangalore with rejuvenation to carry out the plans for IT IS YOU’s premiere. Bangalore dwellers, pull out your calendars and stay ready to mark the dates. We cannot wait to showcase this piece of hard work, stylistic innovation and multitudinal interpretations with you :)
Notes on Exploring Navarasas Training by Swathi Kumar
I attend Exploring Navarasas level 1 in March 2024 and seized the opportunity to attend the level2 when the workshop was announced a couple months later. As a performer my work has beenmostly in playback theatre which is an improvisational form. Exploring Navrasa was one of thefirst actor training workshops I was attending. I had heard a lot about the workshop from friendsand colleagues and Vivek had explained the process in detail during our introduction call, but the impact and the leanings from the workshop far exceed my expectations in terms of my learnings and experience.
During level 1, I throughly enjoyed the process of understanding each rasa in it’s purest formdrawing from our life experiences and associations, though our experiences in life are seldomconsisting of singular emotion. The structure of the workshop allowed me to understand mysubjective experience and expression of each rasa, while decoding the physiology of theexpression with in the structure of breath, gaze and alignment of the body. This breakdown of the technique allowed us to pursue the rasas from a neutral space and to a deeper extent.
The process has had a profound effect on me in understanding myself as a performer and mythoughts and emotions in regular life as well. I was excited to be apart of the very first batch forthe level 2 of Exploring Navarasa.
This workshop was nothing short of a liberating experience forme. We delved deeper into the technique, focusing on breath work, alignment, gaze and pushingour individual depts with each rasa. We worked on pursuing each rasa with pure technique, with a crisper framework without the associations which helped me appreciate the craft more deeply and feel more confident as a performer. I’m incredibly grateful for Vivek as facilitator, his presence, patience and gentle yet firm nudges definitely helped me shed some inhibitions and push myboundaries.
Like many theatre groups around the world, fundraising has been quite challenging for us. In early 2019, we decided to give fundraising a unique twist. This blog will tell you all about EatforArt- A Fundraising Initiative Featuring Seriously Yummy Food!
See Saw is an initiative of Our Theatre, a 10-year-old Bangalore based theatre group. It is an intervention-based exploration where common man issues are deliberated using theatre with the aim to understand create and hold dialogue between emerging & shifting perspectives in urban spaces.
