Classical dances, martial arts to take centrestage at Games ceremonies

At the recent FIFA World Cup in South Africa, everyone danced to the tunes of Latin American star Shakira, but the opening and closing ceremonies of Commonwealth Games here will have no foreign influence and will be a truly Indian affair. Six classical dance forms, martial arts and sounds from the bazaars, it will be India all the way at the two ceremonies.

Incidentally, the centrepiece of the 2006 Melbourne Games was the 11 minutes allotted to India. The Scots, who will host the next edition in Glasgow, won’t get a similar time slot this time.

OPENING CEREMONY: The first eight minutes of the opening ceremony are being taken care off by ace percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, who is known for his exotic style of intricate rhythm structures on instruments like the djembe, duff and the bongos. The theme for the first eight minutes is ‘The Great Indian Bazaar’ where the audience will get a feeling of “how Indian streets sound like”, says Qureshi. “I have used different rhythm structures for every little detail of the bazaar which has been mish-mashed with sounds like an iron-smith using his hammer, a paanwala talking to his customers early in the morning and so on,” he adds.

This will be followed by voices of Baul and Naga singers and sounds of bamboo dancers, actually recorded samples provided by Bansi Kaul, a Delhi-based theatre director. Kaul was roped in by the Organising Committee one and a half months ago because of his extensive knowledge on the folk idioms of India. The next 15 minutes will have 480 artistes divided into six groups of 80 dancers each performing six Indian classical dance forms. Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Mohiniattam and Manipuri were chosen after brain-storming sessions with Kaul and the creative team headed by Bharat Bala. The theme here will be ‘Indian seasons’. Each group will be dancing to the same beat, but in their own forms. A few of the selected dancers will be on the central stage too.

Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj, who is handling the Kathak bit, said: “They have given monsoons to me, which is apt for Kathak. Most of the dancers are my students. But some of the other kathak dancers like Shovana Narayan have also sent her students because this is being done at a large scale,” says Maharaj.

A R Rahman, who is composing the anthem for Commonwealth Games, will also be performing during the ceremonies.

The one-hour ceremony with almost 9,000 artistes, dancers and musicians will also have the traditional march of participating countries led by 2006 host Australia.

CLOSING CEREMONY: The closing ceremony will be more about India’s martial art forms. This will include Kerala’s Kalaripayattu, Punjab’s Gatka, Manipuri Thang-ta and Tamil Nadu’s Silambattam. “It is after all a sporting event and I think the theme should showcase combat sports of India to the world,” said Kaul.

Behind the scenes
COST
Rs 300 crore

BRAINS BEHIND
Headed by Bharat Bala, the creative team includes Shovana Narayan, Prathibha Prahlad, Uma Ganapati Raju, T S Darbari, Javed Akhtar, Shyam Benegal and Prasoon Joshi

CREATIVE CONSULTANT
Ric Birch from Italy, heads of Spectak Productions

EVENT MANAGEMENT
Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Limited

FIREWORKS
Howard and Sons an Australian firm who were behind the pyrotechnics of the Melbourne Games