News
Monday, January 09, 2012
‘The Song of Mohen-jo-Daro’ presented at Alliance FrancaiseBy Asad Farooq
KARACHI: Alliance Francaise, the French cultural center in Karachi, organised a ballet dance play entitled ‘The Song of Mohen-jo-Daro’ at its premises here on Friday evening.
The programme was presented by Tehrik-e-Niswan, founded by legendry dancer Sheema Kermani in 1979 for social change through cultural activities like dance and theater. The play was conceived, choreographed and directed by Kermani.
The story of the play was influenced by the famous myth among people about a character Indus Apsara, a dancer, who according to the sayings was not allowed to tie knot with her lover because he was an outsider. Focus of the story was the Indus Valley civilisation. Around 30 students of Kermani, along with her, expressed their art in the screening.
The story started when Bhairvi (Sheema Kermani), who was fond of dance, was being taught by her teacher (Atif), and her fiancé Peelu (Amjad Ansari), who enters the scene.
Peelu refrains his fiancé to learn dance and after a brief enrage, he took his engagement ring back. Following his frustration after the mishap, Bihaj (Mohsin Khan), Peelu’s close friend took him to a voyage down the river Indus. Apparently they reached the then society of Mohenjo Daro, when their civilisation was at their peak. All at once Peelu sees the ‘Indus dancer,’ and realises that she is her ‘Bhairvi’. Peelu tries to follow her but is refrained by the ‘Yogi dancer’ (Mani Chao). Pellu along with his friend observes the way of life at the reign, their style of cultivation, culture and civilisation, while wondering in search of his ‘Bhairvi’.
The civilisation of the reign inspires Pellu and he joins ‘Yogi Dancer’ to learn dance. Meanwhile, the seed of love develops in the hearts of both Pellu and Indus dancer. The situation was quite unpleasant for a powerful character of the society, the priest (Riaz). He along with mother goddess (Hoori Noorani) hatches a conspiracy against Bhairvi and accuses her that she is intended to leave along with her lover who is a foreigner.
The situation goes violent as dwellers of the city expressed anger over the violation of their traditions and customs. Meanwhile heavy floods hit the city and the fantasy came to an end. The situation transforms and Pellu reached with a quite different personality. He asks pardon from his spouse for his earlier behavior and delightfully both join the Ustad and learnt dance.
In the play, Kermani showed jointly the natural power of emotions and the old civilisation of the reign. She showed that dance is co-related with the prolonged history of the reign and was a part of even oldest civilisations of the reign. She used the effects of colorful lights to present the seasons and times in an inspiring manner.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk