The Park’s The Other Festival - 2005  
    Music. Dance. Drama. Art. You.  
     
    The Museum Theatre, Chennai 
        
          
    Dec 2, 2005  
     

    RABI'A - a solo dance performance by  Seema Agarwal in collaboration with theatre director Abhilash Pillai, New Delhi
     
     
    The present work is based on the life of Rabi'a al-Adawiyya, an Islamic mystic who lived in 8th century Basra. Rabia's journey is traced sometimes in her own words as has been handed down by her biographers, and sometimes, as it echoes in the poetry and songs of Meera Bai-a woman saint who lived in Marwar in the 16th century. Rabia's awesome personality that combined a forbidding austerity with an all consuming passion, demanded a choreographic structure stripped of all non-essentials yet able to convey the scorching power of the emotion. All the aspects of choreography and representation in the performance, therefore, seek to move away from illustrative and towards the abstract hoping to capture the elemental spirit of Rabia. 

    Light design: Goutam Majumder
    Set and stage design: Sumantra Sengupta

    Seema Agarwal was trained in the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam by guru Nana Kasar. Since 1995, she has been working on her own choreography. 
     
     

    • What is The Other Festival?   
    • The Other Festival   • 2005