Theatre Awardee 2019: Kanchan Avchare
Kanchan Avchare is a 2019 Inlaks Theatre Awardee. She spent the past year using her Award to study the art forms of Kathakali, Kudiyattam and Bharatnatyam which enabled her to design Nityakriya. Nityakriya is a practice that allows actors to channel their energy, gain control over movement and stillness thereby enabling them to find their presence on stage.
Below Kanchan explains Nityakriya and how she plans to continue practicing theatre in midst of the current pandemic.
How surya namaskar awakens the spine
The awakening of spine, the very first crawl a new born learns is the breast crawl, using their hands and legs along the spine. This was my first-hand experience with my new born just three months ago when he was born. So, coming back to the spine, once the spine awakens a movement happens, the body becomes aware of its existence. From awareness comes control and the body becomes more present. This is the gateway to transformation for an actor. And here, I refer movement as internal process to ready the body for its transformation. The actor’s body is different from the normal body. Movement is a very limited word in the society created by some intelligent minds to stop the creative spirits. We are taught to move in a certain way, there is always a manual of dos and don’ts, the body isn’t free. In order to fully explore what is means to move, awareness and control is necessary.
On stage the actor is another self, not his normal daily life. Nityakriya is designed with to channel the hidden energy blocked by tensions in the body which result in stress and reduce stage presence. Nityakriya is practiced every morning at sunrise, beginning with the awakening of the spine using Kalari Vandana and Suryanamaskar. But before that the very first thing we do is clean the space and call the Gods of Theatre to guide us. I believe an actor should be the most disciplined like a yogi. Like a yogi, an actor is in search of a truth just like yogis who are searching God. The practice of an actor is similar to that of a yogi, searching the truth in his act. So, once the space is clean, the awakening of the spine is achieved through Suryanamaskar and Kalari Vandana.
From motion we move towards stillness using an exercise from Kathakali the standing stance of the dance form which is like a standing tree. It helps to feel the breath and the tension releases from the muscles enabling us to feel the easy flow of energy. It’s a time to pause and feel the breath flowing to and from the earth through our feet. We try to stand in this stance for fifteen minutes. It’s a part of ‘Kaalsadhakam’ and can be practiced with ‘Kannsadhakam’, an eye moving exercise taken from kathakali.
A workshop conducted by Kanchan
From stillness we again move towards motion but this time recalling our ancient primitive energy and flow by moving like animals using animal walks taken from Kalarippayattu. These walks open different muscles of the body; flexibility, agility and strength are some of the results. Walks are accompanied by animal stances which are standing postures depicting different animals. Along with this, another exercise is primitive movement which reminds us how we started to crawl when we realized our spine. It is a movement of arms and legs along the spine. These exercises better serve as tools to open self, but in theatre we also have the other co-actor, space and the audience with which the actor has to connect. This connection is obtained by the achievement of the awareness of the other and the space. For which I have taken ‘sticks’ from kalarippayattu. The basic stick rotation is the starting point, the idea here is to be aware about the stick and keep it parallel to the body while rotating and hence needs utmost attention and awareness. If not done properly, stick can hit you, so presence is very much needed. It takes a good amount of time and effort with practice to excel this art. This concludes the Nityakriya, however it can be improvise as per ones needs.
After the Nityakriya is finished for the day, we perform cool down of the body. First, we roll on the mud floor of the Kalari, applied with oil and sweat, the body takes on the mud from the floor, it is a rejuvenation for the body. After which we finish the session by again doing Kalari Vandana, thanking the deities of the Kalari. Next is the calming of the breath through pranayama. We also chant shlokas to remind ourselves of the wholeness of the universe and how we all are manifested with the oneness. After the Nityakriya, we can take a break and go on for breakfast and daily routines after which we work on our phase, Aabharanam (The Play-making process). Thus, we can assume that Nityakriya has opened us and awaken our spine for the transformation needed for the external movement. Histories have records of theatre being used as a tool to revolutionaries for the protests, rebels and change the mindsets, uproot superstitions, taboos, remove governments, challenge authorities. It has always evoked the masses. In contemporary times, change is the need of the hour, change of mindset change within people and I believe theatre is a tool to help us achieve that.
Kanchan performing in “Happily Tagged Ever After”
My practice solely is based on the idea of ‘theatre for change’, my solo play ‘Happily Tagged Ever’ deals with the taboos and shaming endured by a woman, an experimental one-act play was about farmer suicide. The issues that I address through my work evokes more empathy within me, the actors that I work with and I hope my audience as well. While I cannot ascertain how my audience will react or respond to my work, I hope that it brings a little shift in the way their thinking. An internal shift from unawareness to awareness, the movement through Nityakriya helps to achieve the external shift, the movement using Aabharanam. From movement to movement. To quote, ‘There are many beautiful souls who are leading the change by attempting to redesign our society back into alignment with the natural laws of our universe. We should be one of them, regardless of which way we personally decide to contribute. To do that, we all need to be super clear within ourselves what we believe, and we want to change. There are many ways to do it too, so finding our passions and strengths is critical to playing our own small part in the shift.’ - Anonymous
Given the current situation I believe it is important to localise my theatre efforts. We need community theatres where we can interact under the safety guidelines. This is a much better option than travelling to urban cities to perform. We have to bring theatre in every corner and chaubaras of the spaces we live in. Theatre and art is needed, we can’t imagine living without it. We need to move, gather, express, theatres, we need action and movement to live. For now, my focus is on community theatre, bringing theatre to my door!
