Tales from the Bull and the Tiger is a spellbinding mega Indian classical dance production conceptualised, choreographed and directed by the celebrated dance maestro Ananda Shankar Jayant.
It will premiere in Singapore on July 6 at the PGP Hall Auditorium.
Presented by Soorya (Singapore), with support from the Hindu Endowments Board, the production – in bharathanatyam and kuchupudi styles with 16 dancers – tells the stories of the godly couple Mahadeva Shiva and Devi Parvati by their vahanas (vehicles) – Nandi (bull) and Simha (tiger).
The dance drama presents various episodes selected from various scriptural sources such as Shiva Purana, Lalita Sahsranamam, Shankaracharya’s Ardhanarishvara stotram and Soundarya Lahari.
Music is based on a selection of kritis from the likes of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, Papanasam Sivam, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Madurai Muralidharan and Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad.
The critically acclaimed production is known for its excellent choreography, artistic brilliance and visual aesthetics. The story is told through poetry, music and philosophy in Sanskrit and Tamil.
Ananda, who is the artistic director of the 1979-founded Shankarananda Kalakshetra in Hyderabad, is an alumnus of Chennai’s Kalakshetra and a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (2009).
Having served as an officer in the Indian Railways, her penchant for harnessing technology for the arts led her to create Natyarambha as a first-of-its-kind bharatanatyam practice app. The 2017-launched facility has users from students and gurus across the world.
More recently, she came up with a cutting-edge digital product named Kutty Kahani, which is a video-embedded e-book that brings Indic stories by and for children through the prism of art.
A sought-after TED speaker, Ananda gives motivational talks at corporate houses, leadership programmes, hospitals, universities and schools.
Tales from the Bull and the Tiger has been staged in most of the major venues and festivals in India.
The show in Singapore will feature an exhibition of original paintings by local visual artists at the foyer.
