kaisiki | An Invitation to Witness the Ebb and Flow of Feminine Grace

kaisiki: A love letter to the spirit of Kerala

Sowparnika Mohiniatta Kalari and Dance Collective has grown organically as an institution of learning over the course of six years. The Collective was born from an earnest and persistent request put forth by one eager student hopeful to Brisbane-based Mohiniattam practitioner and researcher, Bindu Rajendren - a self-confessed “reluctant teacher”. 

This month, the Collective presents kaisiki, Magandjin / Meanjin’s first Mohiniattam recital at Wynnum Community Centre. The title of the recital draws inspiration from the essence of the word itself. Replete with richness in meaning and grounded in the study of Indian aesthetics, kaisiki effectively refers to a style of performative expression known for its delicate, elegant, and graceful rendering of movements and emotions. 

Mohiniattam, literally meaning “the dance of the enchantress”, is an Indian classical dance form from Kerala, a state in the southwest corner of India . Its stylised movements and techniques embody the spirit of kaisiki, while poetically reflecting Kerala’s natural beauty - lush landscapes, mist-clad hilly regions, tranquil backwaters- all recipients of the rhythmic lashing of monsoon rains. The spiralling eddies of Kerala’s bodies of water mirror Mohiniattam’s “slow release of energy with restraint”. 

The movements are akin to concentric circles of ripples and find themselves reverberating in andholika - an oscillating, swaying movement of the torso. The dexterity of the Mohiniattam dancer’s waist, shoulders, elbows, and wrists is contained, sustained, and repeated as a central motif within the kinetic pattern of andholika. My conjecture is that it is this unequivocal embrace of Mohiniattam’s curvilinearity which enhances the enigmatic appeal of Kerala as a land of enchanting possibilities.

kaisiki: A maiden endeavour marking the beginning of beginnings

kaisiki is Sowparnika Mohiniatta Kalari and Dance Collective’s very first full-length concert, showcasing a pair of choreographic works inherited from Bindu’s teachers as living cultural heirlooms. Even more impressively, Bindu has crafted new choreographies that are visually conceived to unfold through the bodies of her students. It is these freshly envisioned dance pieces that will take centre stage on the evening of the Mohiniattam recital.  The walls of Bindu’s sacred home studio, christened as ‘Sowparnika Mohiniatta Kalari’ by Guru Dr Kalamandalam Sugandhi Prabhu, bear witness to this nascent stage of legacy-building through the “passing on of tradition within a diasporic context”. 

This presentation will highlight her choreographic prowess as a thinking artist-educator. Bindu has drawn inspiration from diverse sources, including  the teachings of her mentors, Guru Nirmala Paniker and Guru Dr Kalamandalam Sugandhi Prabhu. She has also engaged in observational practice, studying animal movements in documentaries to better internalise the comportment of anthropomorphic characters in Hindu mythology. Ganesh Sthuti, an invocatory piece on the elephant-headed God, serves as a case in point of Bindu’s above-mentioned choreographic process. Specially created for her youngest student, Naisha Manoj who is all of nine, the delivery of the composition is intended to evoke a sense of playfulness in the bumbling gait and childish whims of a baby elephant.

kaisiki is the culmination of the dedicated efforts of Bindu’s select ensemble of students whom she has, with a great sense of responsibility, taken under her wings. This tutelage has been intentionally offered to these disciples who have displayed admirable steadfastness in their pursuit of an art form she reverently regards as her chief raison d'être. In her own words, she has expressed that she is “happy to see such dedication particularly in Australia where this culture is not seen, heard, or felt in [our] daily lives”.

kaisiki: A portal into experiencing the transformative power of a traditional arts education

In Mohiniattam, a rangaparichayam is an exercise offered to students to ascend the stage so as to gain exposure and experience performing for the public. As such, kaisiki promises to be an evening of performance, engagement, and discussion. However, it is also evident through the responses shared by the participants that the preparation for it bears testimony to something far deeper and, perhaps, more enduring - the still, luminous power that flows from the pursuit of a traditional arts education. 

What makes this endeavour increase in potency is also the way in which the teacher devotes herself to her craft and gently guides her students, inspiring them to awaken from within.

Nisha Anoop Sudhi, one of the six student-performers, shared that it was “after [she] started learning with Bindu chechee, seeing her passion, dedication and elegant dancing” that inspired her to “pursue [Mohiniattam] deeply”.

kaisiki: A tale of waterways carrying the love of sisterhood

As kaisiki is set to premiere on a stage in Wynnum, a coastal suburb of Brisbane, it is, in a metaphorical sense, the imagined confluence of waterways. It marks the union of the Sowparnika River, a river in Karnataka which inspired Bindu’s teacher to name her studio as Sowparnika Mohiniatta Kalari, with the waterways of Brisbane. 

Closely associated with the Kollur Mookambika temple, the Sowparnika River is strongly believed to embody the flow of knowledge itself, its currents imbued with the divine feminine presence which animates its course. In a similar trajectory, Maiwar, the great river which flows through the city of Brisbane and into the Moreton Bay on the east coast of Australia holds immense cultural value for the Turrbal and Jagera peoples of Magandjin / Meanjin, Brisbane. Maiwar, too, is considered an indisputable bearer of ancestral knowledge systems. 

As such, kaisiki  is truly a tale of waterways carrying the love of sisterly kinship, an offering beautifully birthed in Bindu’s Sowparnika Mohiniatta Kalari from the gentle stirrings of a sisterhood united in its cause of learning.  Leony, a student-performer captures it most perfectly in her very own words:

“There’s something incredibly empowering in being part of a space where women uplift each other, share their vulnerabilities through art, and grow together. That quiet sisterhood - the shared breath before a performance, and the knowing glance in rehearsal and the mutual respect- has been one of the most beautiful parts of this journey.”

kaisiki is an invitation to witness the ebb and flow of feminine grace - where movement becomes melody and the lilting voice of embodied elegance rings true.

Kaisiki plays at Wynnum Community Centre on Saturday 25 October.