NEW DELHI: Much is said about female foeticide, but rarely through performance. But Behati Ganga, a show staged in the capital on Saturday evening, was an endeavor to highlight the issue using the medium of contemporary dance.
Sangeeta Sharma, founder-director of Anveshana Dance Theatre not only conceived the show but says it's her tribute to womanhood. "I believe in activism through performance, because it entertains and provokes at the same time. It also helps connect with people," she says.
The show, part of an event that was dedicated to the girl child, was organized by Delhi Gynecologist Forum, Wellbeing of Women India, and Gulshan Homz and depicts the relationship between a mother and her unborn girl child in the midst of societal pressure. Through the use of suggestive props — a womb, large hoops, sheets of fabric, and a large mask with eyes that represents the society — poetry, music, and the soothing sound of water, it shows the conflict between the internal and external world.
The unborn child senses she is unwelcome in the outside world, and would rather remain safe in her mother's heart, but also wants to evolve as a free being. The mother, on the other hand, is trapped by societal pressure.
"I likened a woman to a flowing river. There can be a tsunami when a river is blocked, and I want to show what can happen if society represses women," says Sharma, who plays the role of the mother.
Sharma first presented the show in 2005, and has since performed it with her team nationally and internationally, in both urban and rural areas. At the end, the audience is left guessing whether the mother chooses to give birth to her girl child. "I have to leave that decision to the society," she adds.
TIMES OF INDIA 12 AUG.2012
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