December 8, 2002 

Prakriti Foundation presented "Samavesham - Gender transformation in South Indian Performing Arts"
With great masters, contemporary practitioners, artists in new directions from Kathakali, Yakshagana, Bhagavatha Melam, Therukoothu, Isai Natakam, Kuchipudi, Andhra Natyam, Bharathanatyam and contemporary expressions

Venue: Sundar Mahal, Padmavathy Road, Jeypore Colony, Chennai

Over the years, our culture has allowed space for everything, encompassing the realms of gender in many wonderful ways.  As G. Pramod Kumar says in the book on the Aravan festival “Our ancient cultures / traditional societies accepted behaviors which modern society sees as social deviance, compared to modern societies, people engaged in such behaviors had not been socially marginalized and hence not vulnerable to social ills, the fact that Indian mythology and folklore abound in non-discriminating stories about people with undefined gender suggest that traditional societies had been far more tolerant.

This tolerance is the key to the reduction of moral judgment that has become such a big part of our contemporary life”.  In curating Samavesham, the central idea was to use the paradigm of gender transformation to reflect upon the larger issue of gender per se. From the bhakti movements to recent times there are many religious instances where genders have been assimilated or been in a state of flux to commune with the Divine. What do Masters/Seniors perceive of this tradition that they carry on? What thoughts allow the current practitioners to choose these performance forms? Why and what are the reasons/compulsions for the performers who are utilizing this genre in their work in new directions? Some of the questions are partially replied in this brochure by the artistes themselves while we can inquire about the rest in the audience/artiste interface after each session. Some light will also be thrown through the papers presented.

Without judgment, are we in a position to look at these performances with fresh open perspectives to what they really say? Without a sense of voyeurism and a layer of moral disdain can we see in these expressions an ability and a way, a marker perhaps on how to be comfortable with gender? We as individuals, every one of us, perform our gender roles in some way or another in our daily lives, many times unknowingly. The gender balances vary and swing to polarities over time in the interstices of our own lives. Let Samavesham give us a chance to reflect, engage and meditate on gender per se and then within ourselves.

Schedule