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The Endless Mind
An Exploration by Vyuti Dance Company
Performers
The Endless Mind is an abstract dance and musical exploration of Annamacharya’s 15th century metaphysical poem ‘kadal udipi neeradaga…’ (You say you want to bathe when the waves subside/Is there an end to the endless mind?).
Choreographed by Aranyani and danced by 6 Vyuti dancers including Aranyani, this 50-minute work depicts the narrative of the poetry through the abstraction and deconstruction within Bharatanatyam.
The poem reads like this –
You say you want to bathe when the waves subside
Is there an end to the endless mind?
You say “Let me first quench my thirst, then I’ll find the truth”
Why should thirst be quenched? How can you know truth?
You say you’ll bathe when the waves subside
Is there an end to the endless mind?
All these days, you have a body
Why should longing cease? How can you find joy?
You say you’ll bathe when the waves subside
Is there an end to the endless mind?
You say “After I know what lies ahead, then I’ll forget what was before” Can you
know what lies ahead?
How can you forget what was before?
You say you’ll bathe when the waves subside
Is there an end to the endless mind?
That goodness that comes from knowing how to reach god You won’t find it in
your wildest dreams.
Is there an end to the endless mind? Is there an end? Is there an end? Is there
an end?
Aranyani came across this poetry in the book ‘God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati’ (Translated by David Shulman and V Narayana Rao, Oxford University Press, 2005). In the preface of God on the Hill, Shulman and Rao write that the adhyatma poems are “sung in the poet’s own voice and deal with his sense of himself as an agonised, turbulent human being in relation to the god he worships”. They also write that these poems “explore and articulate a wide range of human experience. In that sense, they are universal poems that speak to all of us.” Shulman and Rao explain that “the ocean, like the mind, never really subsides. There is no end. We can imagine the dialogue continuing forever in [the] spiralling cycles…”.
The poem has both a meditative quality and reflects a restlessness – the poet’s persistent questions, his mind negotiating and renegotiating with itself, and interrogating himself. The poet lays out conditions in a ‘first I’ll do this, then I’ll know that’ way and then ridicules those very conditions. Underlying this internal dialogue, consisting of introspective questions and retrospective answers, is the beautiful image of the ocean.
Like the poetry, the choreography is meditative. Yet, it also has undertones of restlessness. It internalises and utilises the Vyuti philosophy of going beyond the tradition-modernity binary and builds upon a strong and firm foundation of a long, deeply immersive training in, understanding of and professional performing experience of the Bharatanatyam vocabulary as well as exposure to modern and contemporary dance. This production premiered at the G5A Warehouse, Mumbai in April 2023.
The music has been composed by ‘Fragment of Light’, which is a duo that explores musical compositions and ambient landscapes. It can be broadly classified as ambient drone music inspired by Brian Eno and Pandit Pran Nath. Fragment of Light consists of Ganesh Krishnaswamy (Bevar Sea, Kryptos, Megadrone) and Leslie Charles (Thermal And A Quarter, Megadrone, and a renowned producer). The music for ‘The Endless Mind’ is different to what traditional Bharatanatyam typically accompanies – it is not lyrical, but mood-based and abstract. The ambient, drone-like music is inspired by various musical traditions from around the world.
Academic support for the translation and understanding of the poetry is given by Professor David Shulman, who translated these padams along with V Narayana Rao in the book ‘God on the Hill: Temple Poems of Tirupati’. The dance, music, light and poetry come together with a common vision and understanding to explicate the deeply introspective and philosophical musings of the reflective poet Annamacharya on the internal conflicts and restlessness within the mind.
Credits:
Concept, Choreography and Direction – Aranyani Bhargav
Performed by – Akshata Joshi, Aranyani, Gayatri Shetty, Rohee Uberoi, Ronita Mookerji and Seher Noor Mehra
Music – Fragment of Light (Ganesh Krishnaswamy and Leslie Charles)
Lights – Deepa Dharmadhikari
Academic support – Prof. David Shulman
Produced by G5A Forum and BNP Paribas
Supported by Prakriti Foundation
Performers
Akshata Joshi
Akshata has been professionally dancing, performing and teaching for the last 12 years.
In 2012 she completed a one year Diploma in Movement Arts & Mixed Media from Attakkalari Centre For Movement Arts where she learnt different dance techniques such as ballet, contact improvisation, kalaripayatt (indian
martial art form), Bharatnatyam, flying low and various release and contemporary techniques. Later she worked with the Attakkalari repertory for 4 years and was part of various contemporary arts festivals and performances nationally and internationally. She has also worked with choreographers like Nicole Seiler, Diya Naidu, and Ronita’s award winning piece at PECDA. She is also a certified Fletcher Pilates teacher from Tucson, Arizona, for the last 7 years.
Aranyani Bhargav
Aranyani is a bharatanatyam dancer who trained for 16 years with Padmashri Leela Samson from the age of five. During this time, Aranyani was also a part of Leela Samson’s ‘Spanda’ from 1997 to 2004. After that, Aranyani secured diplomas in contemporary dance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (UK) and the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts (Bangalore). While Aranyani continued to regularly perform solo bharatanatyam in India and abroad after her arangetram in 2001, she academically engaged with dance in several ways. She wrote her masters thesis at Oxford University on the ‘multiple modernities of bharatanatyam’ in 2010, and has written several articles for newspapers and journals such as The Hindu, Outlook and Firstpost, on the sociological, political and historical aspects of bharatanatyam.
In 2013, Aranyani conceptualised ‘Vyuti Dance Company’ and it materialised into a functioning dance ensemble in 2014. Vyuti had its first performance in 2016 and received critical acclaim as ‘an astonishing product’ and ‘an organic conversation between tradition and modernity’.
Vyuti’s work travelled to Africa on an ICCR tour in 2017. Aranyani is empanelled with ICCR and has been centrally featured in a PSBT documentary on the journey of sadir to bharatanatyam. She continues to work on new productions with Vyuti, and her solo work. Aranyani performs, practices and teaches in Bangalore.
Gayatri Shetty
Gayatri Shetty is a contemporary artist/ mover/ dancer from Bangalore, India. She received her BA in Performing Arts and Psychology in 2018 from Christ University, where she trained in Bharatnatyam – an Indian classical dance form. She then went on to receive her diploma in Movement Arts and Mixed Media at the Attakalari Center of Movement Arts in 2019 where she received a Distinction for her work.
She moved to New York in 2020 , and trained at Gibney Dance for a period of 9 months where she trained with Bobbie Jean Smith, Daniele Agami, VIM VIGHOR and Teresa Perez (Simonson technique) and many others. During her time in New York she worked with companies Wild She Dances and Phyllis Rose Dance Company. She is currently in Bangalore working as a freelance dancer, a dance teacher for kids and movement dorector for school plays and also conducts health wellness and may Pilates classes
Ronita Mookerji
Ronita Mookerji is an award-winning Choreographer and Performer and works as an Independent Contemporary Dance Artist/Teacher in Interdisciplinary arts for over 16 years now. She is trained in Bharatanatyam for over 25 years.She did the Diploma at Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts in 2008 and worked with the Attakkalari Repertoire from 2009-2016.Her performance works and physical workshops/choreographies has travelled to Germany, UK, Australia, Japan, S.Korea, Singap
She has also worked in Theatre Productions like Khwaab-sa (The Company Theatre), I Am Not Here, A Brief History of Hair that has been performed nationally and internationally. She has been an active teacher in Movement Arts and also a certified Yoga teacher.
Rohee Uberoi
Rohee is a contemporary dancer based in Bangalore. She completed BA in Literary and Cultural Studies from FLAME University, Pune and Diploma in Movement Arts from Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, Bangalore. Rohee continues to train in Bharatanatyam and is keen on learning and exploring performance, film, pedagogy and writing practices based on dance.
Seher Noor Mehra
Seher Noor Mehra is a Performing artiste and Choreographer based out of Bangalore. Seher has been dancing since the age of eight, and has been trained extensively in a variety of forms like Bharatanatyam, Jazz, ballet, contemporary dance and yoga. She has also had the chance to train in certain Indian martial art and folk forms. She studied dance at the Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts through their Diploma Programme and also worked with Nritarutya Dance Company for over four years professionally as a full time company dancer. Seher is now a freelance performer, teacher and choreographer.
She believes that dance and movement are a very important mode of expression and have the capacity to initiate change in its deepest form. She teaches extensively and has taken a number of workshops for children and adults, ranging from beginner to intermediate and advanced levels. Her solo works include two 40 minute productions ‘Ricochet’ and ‘Excerpts from a muddled mind’- Her work, classes and performances are an amalgamation of her years of training and are heavily inspired by personal experiences and interactions with the world, its frequencies, vibrations and elements. She continues to learn, train, adapt, evolve and create.
