Swan Lake comes to Bengaluru as Hansika, courtesy Sanjali Centre for Odissi Dance

Swan Lake comes to Bengaluru as Hansika, courtesy Sanjali Centre for Odissi Dance

Swan Lake has lived on as an enduring tale of human nature ever since it was written as a ballet by Russian composer Tchaikovsky around 1875. As with most fairy tales, it has elements of enchantment and betrayal, a love lost and found, a tragic hero and fair maiden, and of course, the scheming villain.

This weekend, the Sanjali Centre for Odissi Dance will present Hansika, an Odissi adaptation of Swan Lake directed by Sharmila Mukerjee.

“I grew up reading a lot about ballet during my childhood, and Swan Lake was one of the pieces that consistently attracted me. I always thought I would produce it one day when I had my own institution,” says Sharmila, danseuse and founder of Sanjali Centre for Odissi Dance in Bengaluru.

“I knew that it would be a lot of work as it is a mega production involving a large cast and elaborate sets. As a dance form, Odissi lends itself to the premise of Swan Lake with its graceful, swan-like movements, and I believed it would work well as this ballet,” she adds.

“I thought working with Tchaikovsky’s music and keeping the theme would be interesting. I was lucky to get Praveen D Rao, a Bangalore-based music director with a great grasp of Western and Eastern classical music. He has beautifully used traditional Indian instruments such as the tabla, sitar and pakhavaj as well as the violin to set the score for this production.”

Sharmila adds that though Hansika follows the same storyline as Swan Lake, there have been a few “tweaks to fit it into the Indian context”. Almost a year in the making, Sharmila says the costumes have been designed to align with the original theme. Hence, ethereal whites and crowns for the swans, though not part of traditional Odissi costume, appear in Hansika.

“I have depicted Odette and Odile as two sisters who are competing with each other. Another adaptation to the Indian context is the haldi for the wedding ceremony,” says Sharmila.