Creativity and precision, modernity and tradition, dance and mime came together in a unique production, Stories of Solitude, which was presented by two dancers, Rikhia Basu and Nilanjana Banerjee, and the veteran mime artist, Suvendu Mukhopadhyay, at Gyan Manch recently. The Manipuri style of Basu and Banerjee was fluid and tranquil, perfectly juxtaposing with mime, the second element of the performance. Together, their creative endeavour — fragments of a narrative that underlines rising human isolation and the central role that technological innovations play in breaking down human bonds — foregrounded the primacy of the body and the mind as vessels for experience and expression.
If Banerjee stood out for her innate aesthetic sense and her intricate footwork, Basu's ability to convey a wide range of emotions bore the narratorial load of the performance. Both performers wore Manipuri dance attires but were shorn of the embellishments. Conceptualised by Banerjee, the small but insightful segments — how the blissful camaraderie among three friends is ruined owing to phone usage, how a daughter not allowed to practise dance by her strict father ends up taking her own life, how the happiness of conjugality is cut short by the pandemic — were etched out with abhinaya and dance. The rest of the performance, including the mime, used minimal music. There were no songs either, heightening a silence that symbolised forced or self-induced seclusion. A special note should be made of the innovative usage of the overhead stage lights that added to the dramatic component.
Clarity was missing in a few patches given that the performers engaged in multi-rolling for different strands of the narrative. The performance reached its narrative peak with the introduction of a child who symbolises the promise of a happy future untouched by human as well as technological vices, one who can bring lost individuals back to the correct path. In the final freeze frame, the performers latched on to a child following a kite — the acme of freedom — which had a cathartic effect, making the audience introspect.
