Masoom Parmar

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Productions will create a performance that will endeavour to reinvent Bharatanatyam by bringing in values of pluralism. Masoom Parmar is the Coordinator for this project.

Masoom Parmar is a dancer based in Bangalore. He had his initial training in Bharatanatyam was under Smt Neha Patel in Navsari, Gujarat. He received the Visharad degree in the form from Bruhad Gujarat Sangeet Samiti at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya (Ahmedabad) and is currently learning the intricacies of Bharatanatyam and nattuvangam under the guidance of Sri Kiran Subramanyam and Smt Sandhya Kiran. Masoom also continues to train in Kathak. He also practices the Sufi traditions of the Mevlevi Order with Masters from Konya. Masoom has been part of Sarjan, a Gujarati children's theatre group in Navsari. His earlier works explore ideas of identity and belonging through the oral, literary and cultural heritage of the subcontinent. Given his experiences he is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

Bharatanatyam is one of the most popular of the eight Indian Classical Dance forms. Restructured in the 1900s by classical revivalists like E Krishna Iyer and educationists like Rukmini Devi Arundale, the newly revived form is founded on a Hindu religious ethos, Brahmin hegemony, marginalisation of the original practitioners from the Isai Vellalar communities, erasure of the erotic and a celebration of patriarchal norms of accepted behaviour and dressing.

Through this project, Masoom questions whether a form heavily soaked in Hindu mythology can make space for other religious literature. His enquiries include in what ways such literature affect the form; whether a sonic and an architectural landscape change the movement vocabulary; if non-traditional interfaith content change the form; whether status quo can be overturned; and if notions of the sacred and secular, personal and political can be addressed in the dancing body. These are some of the questions that will guide the making of this performance. In addition, the project will also reflect Masoom’s lived experiences as a non-binary, Muslim Zoroastrian dancer, practicing a Hindu temple dance form, growing up in a country that is currently torn by bigotry and intolerance.

The project will unfold as an exploration of the Alarippu, a traditional dance sequence from the Bharatanatyam repertoire. Taught as the first dance sequence to a student of Bharatanatyam, Alarippu (meaning blossoming of a flower) is designed as a response to the traditional South India temple architecture. The simplicity of the sequence belies the multiple layers of nuance in terms of movements and rhythm play.

Interestingly, the three positions - standing (Samapādam), half sitting (Araimandi) and full sitting (Murumandi) of the Alarippu and the standing, kneeling and sitting positions of the Islamic prayer Namaaz have many similarities. Playing on the word Al(l)a(h)rippu, the performance will take shape with the Azaan, the Islamic prayer call, as a soundscape layered over the traditional Bharatanatyam sollukattus, and will explore the convergences and divergences in the movements of a Namaaz with that of the Alarippu. Furthermore, the project looks at reconstructing the Alarippu choreographically by removing it from a temple space and situating it in a mosque. These two impulses - sound and space form the key impulses for further explorations as part of this project.           

Additionally, the performance will potentially explore how poetry from two different religious traditions can sit in the same body through this work.

The choreography of the work will also be informed by interviews with senior arts practitioners, literature on the evolution of modern day Bharatanatyam and history of Islam in India, along with a study of architectural plans of famous mosques in the country. The collated material will provide the scaffolding for the movement and soundscape of the work.

Singer Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy will collaborate with Masoom as music composer and dancer Priyanka Chandrasekhar will be the dramaturge for this project. To avoid the uncertainties of presenting work in physical spaces in the current times, the outcome of this project will be the Bharatanatyam performance presented in video format. The deliverables to IFA with the final report will be audio recordings of interviews and still and video documentation of the process and the final production.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it questions accepted conventions, pushes new frontiers in content, form and medium, explores new modes of engagement with space, audience and communities, and foregrounds a spirit of experimentation. IFA believes that this work will bring a fillip to the scholarship and practice of Bharatanatyam by adding to the form, artistic and aesthetic dimensions that go beyond received conventions.        

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is supported by Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.