“SHYAMA” ( a Tagore’s Dance Drama)

Modern Bengali dance drama is predominantly the contribution of Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore and ‘Shyama’ is very popular Dance Drama of Tagore. His dance dramas, such as Chandalika, Shyama, Chitrangada, use dances set to beautiful songs to convey Tagore's humanism.

‘Shyama’ narrates story about a court-dancer (Shyama), falling in love with a foreign merchant (Bajrasen).

The drama starts with Bajrasen, a noble merchant, acquiring a priceless set of jewels called ‘Indramonir Haar’(a precious necklace) from ‘Subarna Dwip’ (Subarna Island) looking for a suitable bride. Soon, he is seen being chased by a royal guard. They come across Shyama, the royal courtesan, and her acquaintances. Strikingly beautiful Shyama is pursued by many but her heart sets on Bajrasen at the very first sight.

The royal guard arrests Bajrasen and Shyama starts plotting how to rescue the object of her affection and soon comes up with a brilliant plan. She manipulates one of her suitors, Uttiyo, to take the blame of the crime Bajrasen has been arrested for. Thus Bajrasen is saved. Shyama and her beloved elope to a land where no one knows them. However, eventually the truth is revealed and Bajrasen is appalled by Shyama's treachery that had apparently caused an innocent young man his life. Unable to deal with the guilt, Bajrasen rejects Shyama. Heartbroken, Shyama leaves her lover. Bajrasen is torn between strong feelings of guilt and undying love for Shyama; in the back of his mind he's aware that the purpose of Shyama's despicable act was to save his life.

The story of ‘Shyama’ may be set in the ancient times, but its message and appeal is still relevant. ‘Shyama’ is a sad story of eternal love, temptation and manipulation in the name of love.

Participants: Dance:
Bondhu : Arpita Saha
Bajrasen: Abira Das
Kotal : Mila Mitra
Uttio : Debabani Khatua
Shyama : Pragya Dasgupta
Shokhi : Mousumi Das Chaudhuri, Mousumi Bose,Piu Ghosh,Jayee Banerjee,
Tandrima(Kheya) Bandyopadhyay,Sayantanee Dutt
Prodhan Shokhi : Tandrima(Kheya) Bandyopadhyay and Mousumi Bose
Grambasi: Adya Pandey, Amenda Pandey, Ila Sengupta, Nitya Vakil,
Shreya Mathur, Srishti Jain, Tuili Kulshi

Music:
Bondhu:Shirshanka Das
Bojrosen:Sudip Nag
Kotal/Prohori:Sky(Sabyasachi) Basu
Sokhi: Shyamoshree Gupta-Diamond
Sokhigon/Polliromigon etc: Alaknanda Mukherjee,Shyamoshree Gupta-Diamond and Manidipa Bhattacharya
Uttio:Abhra Roy
Shyama:Manidipa Bhattacharya

Music Assistance:
Tabla: Pradosh Sarkar
Flute: Brinda Govindan
Sarode: Ben Kunin
Key Board: Subhas Khashnobish