Halfway around the state in 60 minutes

Halfway around the state in 60 minutes

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FROM MID-DAY, Mumbai, 10th Oct 2009 edition

Halfway around the state in 60 minutes

By: Aditi Sharma

Date: 2009-10-10

Utsav, a fast-paced 60 minute dance collage takes you on a whirlwind tour of Maharashtra's culture in comfortable confines

Perhaps, it's got to do with the mercurial character of Mumbai. The raging passion has its inhabitants come gushing out on the streets during festivals, each community declaring their respect for their revered deity, turning sacred occasions into a game of one upmanship.

Performers depict a scene from Navratri celebrations. pics/Sameer Markande

The throbbing mayhem turns even the wide-eyed tourists into home-birds, thanks to endless traffic delays. It's definitely bad news for Maharashtra Tourism, who'd rather have more travellers out there, exploring the city's culture. In Mumbai, thankfully, every glitch is an idea waiting to be tapped into. Enter Suresh Singh Tanwar, a tour operator, who organises Utsav - an hour long dance collage featuring nine major Maharashtrian festivals and a traditional wedding.

During his tours to Bangkok, where Tanwar visited the Rose Garden - a one-stop destination where a tourist can experience the arts, crafts and culture of Thailand, that served as an inspiration. He tried to initiate a project based on similar lines in Rajasthan, but things didn't quite work out. "Utsav has taken three long years to get started. It was a task to scout for artists and get them together, to put up a quality show," recalls the soft-spoken Tanwar.

The hour-long dance collage is performed by a troupe of 42 artistes trained by danseuse Kavita Koli, and stringed together by narrator Sumeet Lakhotia, who gives a brief description of each performance. "It was deliberate decision to use English as the medium, since most tourists are foreigners. A French narration can also be arranged, if required," informs Tanwar.

Keeping to the Hindu tradition of invoking Lord Ganesha's blessing before any auspicious event, the collage begins with a Ganesh Vandana, followed with a dance-description of every significant festival, beginning with Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian New Year.

The consequent festivals - Narali Purnima, Gokulashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Diwali, Makar Sankranti and Holi - are all depicted in the order of celebration. Since no show in Maharashtra is complete without some feet-tapping cheer, there's a Lavani performance, and a traditional wedding, complete with a pandit matching the bride and groom's kundalis.

What works for the show is that the performances are true to tradition without compromising on pulsating energy. From cute brats grabbing the dahi handi to the kolis celebrating Narali Purnima, Tanwar and his team have managed bring authentic flavour, with vibrant costumes, local songs orchestrated with lejhim, dhol and jhang (spindle-shaped drum). It's quite a cultural eye-opener, which could make for an interesting evening out for non-Maharashtrians in the city. Is the state tourism department reading this?

On: Every Monday and Saturday, 7 pm.
At: Ravindra Natya Mandir, near Siddhivinayak Mandir, Prabhadevi.
Call: 9820070925.
Tickets: Rs 900
(Private shows for can also be arranged)

Click here to view a collage video of the performances.

Utsav- Festivals of Maharashtra

Hey,

This is the link to the write up in Time Out magazine (Mumbai, Oct 2 -16 edition) about the event that I'm compereing.

http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/aroundtown/aroundtown_feature_details.asp?code=252

check it out

Utsav

Tour operator Suresh Singh Tanwar has shown several people around the city, but he’s always felt that something was missing in Mumbai’s tourist scene. “There wasn’t much to do after 7pm other than to take the travellers to Indigo or Trishna for dinner,” he complained. “I felt that it was time for a change.” Inspired by the cultural shows he’d seen at Rose Garden in Bangkok, at which performers give tourists a colourful and entertaining presentation of their nation’s cultural menu, Tanwar’s company Supersonic Travels decided to start an extravaganza of its own. He has financed and produced Utsav, an hour-long spectacle designed as a quick introduction to Maharashtra. Roughly 20 actors and dancers, and an equal number of crew members backstage speedily run through eight Maharashtrian festivals, the state’s popular folk dances and a traditional wedding. Each show of Utsav begins with a “Ganesh Vandana”, a piece in which the production’s choreographer Kavita Koli and bharatanatyam dancers worship Lord Ganesha. After that, Utsav follows the Maharashtrian calendar, starting with the Maharashtrian New Year, Gudi Padwa, and winding up with Holi, the last festival of the year. A narrator introduces each festival in English, offering stories about its origins. Tanwar says that the aim is to help foreigners and expatriates, his target audience, understand these celebrations. Only a few minutes are devoted to each item, allowing several Maharashtrian folk dances to be squeezed into the show. The devotional jogwa and gondhal dances are performed during the Navratri segment and the Koli dance helps showcase Nariyal Purnima and Holi. Accompanying Ganesh Chaturthi, the longest section, is music from the lezim, a stick that holds tambourine-like cymbals, and phugadi, in which two women clasp each other’s hands and spin at dizzying speeds. But Utsav doesn’t limit itself to folk dances. The emphasis is on the customs and traditions associated with each festival. Ganesh Chaturthi begins with the arrival of a Ganesh idol and ends with a depiction of the idol’s immersion. Utsav’s highlight is the wedding ceremony. Two minutes is all it takes for audiences to go from watching a couple’s horoscopes getting matched to the wedding procession and the bride’s farewell. “Many tour guides have said they have never seen such a thing in any part of India,” said Tanwar. He has booked the Mini Auditorium at the Ravindra Natya Mandir until January to cash in on the tourist season. Suhani Singh

Source : Time Out Mumbai