Odissi dance drama focuses on female empowerment

Odissi show Saa Shakti, choreographed by Leena Mohanty and presented by Kalpana Dance Theatre, will feature local dancers such as (clockwise from top left) Thanenthiran Maruthai, Kunaratnam Velauthan, Daisyga Rani Vijayakumaran and Nritta Ganeshi Manoharan. Photo: Kalpana Dance Theatre

The disempowerment of women does not happen all at once; it is a continuous, often insidious process that begins early in the life of a female child and goes on to infiltrate almost every aspect of her life. The girl who isn’t allowed to play “boys’ games”. The teenager who is told a girl shouldn’t talk too much. The young woman whose sole goal is viewed to be marriage. The mother who is expected to build her life only around her family.

An upcoming Indian classical dance drama, Saa Shakti, seeks to disrupt and question this process by telling the story of a woman’s journey to empowerment. The show’s title, which evokes not just the Sanskrit word for power and empowerment but also the Hindu goddess Shakti, is an apt metaphor for a show that uses the classical traditions of odissi to express contemporary thoughts and ideas.