Sudip Chakraborty’s Kathak recital, Aru­nanan, (AMI Arts Fes­tival at the Kolkata Cen­tre for Creativity), de­fi­ed conventional as­p­ects of a ‘performance’. A full-length solo divided into three broad segments, Arunanan not only etched out Chakraborty’s deft understanding of the intricate technicalities of Kathak but also his boldness in infusing a heavily-coded classical form with creative imagination.

In the invocation to Shiva, which marked the first segment, Chakraborty was able to present a myriad narrative strands. He then progressed to a conversation with Shiva, executing multiple chakkars with remarkable speed and balance, interrogating as well as surrendering to the deity’s essence.

Chakraborty’s soliloquising of the bols simultaneously with dancing filled up the gaps in the narrative. He broke into verbal narrations to create a dialogue with the audience and reserved his skills in abhinaya for the final act. The audience’s frequent standing ovations indicated Arunanan’s resonance.