Tagore's <i>Shyama</i> in a new form

Kolkatans will get to see Rabindranath Tagore's popular dance drama Shyama -The Dusky Dame in a new form.

India Green Reality Pvt. Ltd., a company that provides real quality constructions and deluxe living spaces, in association with dance institution Darpani, have come up with the idea of organizing the dance drama with the present ethnicity with a touch of vibrant and aesthetic customs.

The dance drama was announced by India Green Reality director Amitava Samanta and founder of Darpani Arnab Bandhopadhyay at a press conference in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Samanta said, "Shyama being Tagore's last key work for the stage that illustrates the exclusive and matchless permutation of song, dance and color, we have decided to showcase it in the present ethnicity with a touch of vibrant and aesthetic customs."

Bandhopadhyay said, "The sole aim of portraying Shyama is to restore the rich cultural heritage of Bengal and to unleash the true spirit of dance by the amalgam of the classical dance forms and the ever evolving art of choreography.

"We want that the grand work piece of Tagore should be revived whenever feasible reaching millions of hearts every time so that the ensemble cast of this bona fide, colorful, widescreen film version should never be forgotten."

The musical drama will be performed at G.D. Birla Sabhaghar on July 8 by Darpani in the presence of personalities like Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Sraboni Sen, Satinath Mukhopadhyay and Soumili Biswas.

Shyama is one of the three dance musicals written by Tagore that not only reﬂects his artistic and philosophical response to both the turbulence and turmoil of pre-Independence of India but also Hitler's persecution and maltreatment of Jews in Germany.

The story of Shyama is based on a Buddhist legend, about which Tagore had written a poem, Parishodh (Repayment), in 1899. This was what he expanded and developed into the full dance musical Shyama.

Shyama is essentially a romantic tragedy, though there are two love stories entwined, both of Shyama and Bajrosen, who are initially both in search of their ideal partners, and that of the unexpressed, unilateral love Uttiyo has for Shyama which leads Uttiyo to sacriﬁce himself for her happiness.

Tagore's Shyama in a new form