NAVRATRI INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE BY -Shajilpadiyoor -

NAVRATRI INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE
Namaste
To bring the values of our culture to life in this Navratri performance, I tried experimenting with various Art forms such as Dance, Painting & Installation. I began the dance performance by demonstrating the various forms of Devi followed by how Durga and Mahishasura's fight came about. Then I began painting on the canvas to convey my ideas about Durga. Together, I was dancing and painting intermittently.
According to my understanding Navratri represents the 9 values or virtues we all can evolve and grow in us, and the Mahishasura represents ones weaknesses that we need to remove by choice.
Before I performed, I handed out papers with sticks and asked the audience to write about one weakness they wished to change in themselves in this Navratri. They must then, pin it in the banana trunk (that represented the Mahishasura symbolically) that I had got on to the stage. After inner reflection people wrote down their weakness which they pinned into the Banana stump visualizing that it is ‘released from their inner being’. This is how I made the performance more interactive.
I depicted Sri yanthra on my canvas, which is an Energy Generator. It means that it transmutes all energies to be aligned with the energy of the Universe. With the music of Mahishasura mardini Stotram I painted the sri yanthra. And installed it at the end of the event.
Lastly the participants nailed their paper sticks to the banana trunk.
I understand that each of these festivals have social, mental, spiritual interconnections that facilitates each one of us to reflect ‘collectively’ and come together in this endeavor of self improvement with celebration!
Thanks