Rabi’a
By Seema Agrawal in collaboration with Abhilash Pillai An Ardha Matra production
English
Duration: 1 hour (no interval)
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Script by: Mahmood Farooqui and Seema Agrawal
Script developed using reference from Rabi’a – a biography in English written by Margaret Smith Translation by Prof. Mohammad Illyas from the original Persian work Tadhkirat al-Awaliya by Farid ud-Din Attar. Translation of Meehra’s poetry into English by Shama Fatehally.
Narration: Dilip Shanker and Alka Amin
Recorded at Thurkal Studios
Special Thanks: Dr Farida, Director Hazrat Inayat Khan Foundation
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Synopsis |
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Based on the life of Rabi’a a – ‘Adawiyya, an Islamic mystic who lived in 8th century Basra. Rabia’s journey is traced sometimes in her own words as written by her biographers, and sometimes, as it echoes in the poetry and songs of Meera bai – a woman saint who lived in the 16th century Marwar.
Rabia’s awesome personality combining a forbidding austerity with an all consuming passion demanded a choreographic structure able to convey the scorching power of the emotion. All the aspects of choreography and the dance seeks to capture the elemental spirit of Rabi’a as performed by Bharatanatyam dancer Seema Agrawal in collaboration with theatre director Abhilash Pillai. Seema was trained in the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam by Guru Nana Kasar. Since 1995 she has been working on her own choreography.
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Cast and Crew BiographiesSeema Agrawal is a Bharatanatyam dancer who received her training from Guru Nana Kasar. She has been performing since 1984. From 1995 she began working on her own choreography using the Bharatanatyam form along with elements from theatre and other art forms. Akshat -Taru- visual reading into the poem Samaragi ka naivedya dan by the pre-eminent hindi poet Ageya. In Varanasi she collaborated with visual artist Sumantro Sengupta where dance was juxtaposed with the video images of the weaving looms and lanes of Benaras. A Bend in the River choreographed in 2000 was an interactive journey the bauls of Bengals and sounds of the saxophone. Abhilash Pillai is a graduate in theater design from Calicut University, Kerela, he attended the National School of Drama to study design and direction and then joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), London and obtained a diploma in theater production and stage management. He has directed many plays national and international, in regional languages and in English. He has worked as a Associate Director in Orange Tree Theater, Richmond, UK. At present, he a faculty member in the National School of Drama. He received the “Sankriti Award” for achievement in the field of theater in 2002, 2003. Sumantro Sengupta completed his post graduation in Fine Arts from Kala Bhavana, Shantiniketan. After painting for ten years, he decided to enter the more multi disciplinary field of communication. He worked as a senior designer in New Delhi Television (NDTV) for 6 years. He started his own designing studio – Ray Design which he is involved in inter disciplinary designing activity. His passion for performing art along with his dancer wife enabled him to create the performing group called “Ardha Matra”. He is also deeply involved in set designing for theater.
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