Dec 03 2024 to Dec 03 2024 7:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

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Where

The Courtyard

105, Kengal Hanumanthaiah Rd, opp. Corporation Bank, Raja Ram Mohanroy Extension, Shanthinagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560027, India 560027

Event Description

Tanashah, a solo by Navtej Johar, explores extremes. Based on the jail diaries of Bhagat Singh, particularly his essay titled, “Why I am an Atheist”, it examines the resolve of a young man to walk to the gallows with searing clarity, un-sublimated by religious doctrine or idealist philosophy. The work attempts to imagine the impending moment of his youthful death that almost seems to embolden him, propel him unto that final moment with fierce veracity. His blazing courage aside, it also draws upon the young revolutionary’s love for poetry and song.   Juxtaposed against this intense narrative of Bhagat Singh, is Johar’s journey of being a Sikh Bharatanatyam dancer, and more importantly his affinity with the padam. This amorous song addresses the ambiguity and impossibility of love.   In Tanashah, both the narratives—the powerful ardour of a revolutionary and the unbridled pukaar or call of the love song--dark, masculine, uncompromising, and almost heckling in nature—are textually and somatically interwoven in anticipation of a poised resolve within poetic-consummation.      

About the Artist     

Navtej Singh Johar is a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-winning Bharatnatyam dancer and choreographer. He is also a queer activist who, along with five others, famously filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.   Johar teaches at Ashoka University, Sonipat. He trained in Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, a dance school run by Rukmini Arundale in Chennai, and with Leela Samson at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi. He subsequently studied at the Department of Performance Studies, New York University, and won several fellowships for his research over the years.   Johar has collaborated with composers Stephen Rush, Shubha Mudgal and installation artist Sheba Chhachhi among others. He has also acted in Earth by Deepa Mehta and Khamosh Pani by Sabiha Sumar.