A step towards inclusivity

At Marghazhi Matram, vision-impaired Bharathanatyam artistes have spectators cheering them all the way

The last performance on the bill of fare, it was greeted with seats more vacant than occupied. The sprinkling of spectators were abashedly apologetic about it, and willed themselves t//o do every hallowed thing in their power to conceal this embarrassing fact from the Bharathanatyam dancers. The mission was accomplished with these spectators using their paws as cymbals and wowing the best formations and movements with extended claps — an effort that threatened to outlast Beatles’ memorable outre (“na na na nananana, nannana, hey Jude”, if you are casting around for it). That evening, each pair of hands in the room — including this writer’s — equalled a hundred.

One believes the five female Bharathanatyam dancers from Bengaluru-based Articulate Ability hardly registered that the auditorium was largely stark. They are vision-impaired, with partial sight, which was as reliable as a reed in a tempest, given the blindingly intense but essential lights thumping the stage at Dhakshinamurti Auditorium in Mylapore. If they had harboured any lingering suspicion that much of the audience had trooped out into the nippy winter night after the main events, the thunderous applause from the handful of spectators would have quelled it. The performance was part of Marghazhi Matram, an inclusive concert being organised by California-based arts-promoting non-profit, SciArtsRUs.

ALSO READ: