A unique live performance created by a Bharata Natyam Dancer, an Animation Designer along with artists and musicians from
the Warli tribe.
Envisioned by Prachi Saathi in collaboration with Upasana Nattoji Roy.
Past Performances
India Art festival
Trichy
February 2024
BIC Bangalore
Bangalore
April 2023
National Centre for Performing Arts
Experimental Theatre. Mumbai
April 2024
Natarani Amphitheatre
Ahmedabad
December 2023
India Habitat Centre
New Delhi
November 2023
Kula Worldwide
Nesco Convention Centre, Mumbai
January 2023
“'When Walls Dance' :
A captivating fusion of dance and Warli art
— Pune Mirror
Read here
“An expressive confluence of dance, folk art and animation”
— The Hindu
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In the News
“'Bharatanatyam danseuse Prachi Saathi performs a unique piece combining warli art and animation”
— Indian Express
Read here
The entire performance is composed of 8 sections.
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An Alarippu is the very first piece in a Bharata Natyam repertoire. It literally means blossoming. And just as a flower blossoms through this alarippu we see how a day unfolds or rather blossoms in the warli village.
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For the Warli tribe every joyous occasion calls for dance and music. One such occasion was the birth of Champa.
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A AA E EE is the first alphabet that a child learns when learning the Marathi language. The bond that Champa shares with her beloved tree is so special that she shares everything that happens in her life with her favourite tree.
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Whenever there is a wedding in the warli family the suvashinis or married women paint the Lagna Chauk, an auspicious painting which has great spiritual significance. It frames the Palghat devi who is the goddess of fertility and is invoked to bring good fortune to the newly wedded couple.
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As her sister leaves after getting married Champa momentarily feels lonely only to realise that her best friend-the Champa tree is by her side offering her the warmth through her cool shade.
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Bohada is a mask festival of the Warli tribes which is held for three days. It is celebrated with a display of individuals wearing 52 masks of Warli Gods and Goddesses. This is a celebration to invoke the rain gods to ensure a good crop in the season and to pay homage to village Gods and Goddesses, for creation and sustaining of life.
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This song depicts the joy, the celebration that comes with the arrival of rain. Clouds forming shapes and dancing peacocks flowing rivers swaying crops create an ambience full of life and Love and happiness.
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The finale piece is a Tillana which is traditionally the concluding piece in a Bharata Natyam repertoire. This piece is an ode to the Champa tree and also a celebration of the undying love that Champa shares with her beloved Champa tree. Tillana is an expression of joy and happiness. And as they exchange these emotions there comes a point where things take an unexpected turn.
The Story
A Jugalbandi of Artistic Practises
The story revolves around the friendship and love between champa the lil tribal girl and her namesake tree. They grow together and their lives are intertwined in more ways than they realise.
The bond that the girl shares with this tree is that of true selfless friendship which they promise each other, will last forever and ever.
This production is an attempt to bring together two age-old art forms - the Indian classical dance form of Bharata Natyam and the tribal art of the indigenous Warli tribe - through scenography including motion design and projection.
It is a jugalbandi of different artistic practices across different storytelling mediums to trigger urgent and important conversations about our relationship with ourselves and our surroundings.
India is very diverse and the classical, folk and digital rarely interface. This project is a framework to co-create together.
Most indigenous traditional art, craft and other performances often evolved from technologies, tools, or ways of life at a time where there was a strong symbiotic relationship between the artist and his or her environment.
The challenge with the modern day artists is that most of their work often revolves around using digital tools that have been machined/designed/created in a way that their operation/usage and consequential output is instinctively disconnected from the natural environment.
The hope of a project like When Walls Dance, is to try and imbibe the "more than human" approach to living on this planet which is intrinsic to most tribal and pre modern ways of life.
Most visuals created for music or dance performances are often created where the visuals projected onto large screens take center-stage during the performance. Visuals created for a classical or folk dance performance cannot be designed in the same fashion.
The dancer is the sutradar. And design and tech supports the storytelling by building a world and providing support characters to tell that story. When Walls Dance is crafted to maintain this delicate balance.
Throughout the performance, the dancer brings the story alive. The visuals can never steal the limelight from the dancer/performer.
Our goal as a design studio is to demonstrate that it is possible to create visuals and use technology to engage wider audiences without losing the depth and soul of classical and folk performances.
Download Brochure here
Animation Tests
Choreography Tests
Type Tests
We also need to prove to classical dance teachers in India that hybrid performance with projections are not superfluous but create an immersive experience that can have depth and meaning without diluting the focus from the rigour and spiritual practice of the dance form.
We hope to have the patronage and support from stalwarts in the art, design and performance worlds along with festivals and funding bodies to develop future concepts and productions.
Our aim for this project is to bring classical as well as folk forms of performance to wider audiences. By exploring newer means, we are able to understand and transfuse learnings from a traditional dance style like Bharatnatyam with a more immersive avatar thereby bringing a fresh energy catering to a modern audience.
costume
music
bohada
Credits :
Concept, Choreography, Presentation: Prachi Saathi, Co-Created by : Prachi Saathi & Upasana Nattoji Roy, Co-Produced by: Prachi Saathi & Switch Studio, Scenography and Animation : Upasana Nattoji Roy, Research & Art advisor: Rajendra Chaudhari.
Lights : Keerthi kumar
Music composition: Swapnil Chapekar & Satish Krishnamurthy, Music arrangement: Satish Krishnamurthy, Vocals: Swapnil Chapekar, Ketaki Joshi, Traditional Warli artists from Jawhar, Maharashtra, Lyrics: Swapnil Chapekar, Rajendra Chaudhari, Traditional Warli folk songs, Percussion, Soundscape and Body percussion: Satish Krishnamurthy, Other Percussion: Traditional Warli artists from Jawhar Maharashtra, Flute: Sandeep Kulkarni, Sound Engineer: Tapan Dewanji at Trio Digital studio.
Visualisation, Design and Compositing : Upasana Nattoji Roy, Warli Animation : Aishwarya Chaudhari & Upasana Nattoji , Warli Type : Aditi George, Poster Design : Saurav Roy, Costume Design: Prachi Saathi, Costume Realisation: Ghulambhai Tailor Mumbai , Masks Design: Celebrated Warli artist , Shri Bhagwan Kadu, Light Design : Deepa Dharmadhikari.
Script guidance: Shaili Sathyu & Sanjukta Wagh, Publicity Photo shoot : Jimeet Pawaskar, Publicity shoot studio : Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts , Chhau training : Rakesh Sai Babu , Showreel : Aritro Mukherjee , Performance photos: Navin Ravindran,
Special mention of my Guru Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan for her unending encouragement and blessings.