On a bright sunny Saturday, people stood in line outside the newly established Navya Nachghar auditorium in Kathmandu. They were all excited to watch Premarambha: Nature vs. Culture, a dance drama, the inaugural production at Navya Nachghar.
Dance artist Namrata KC also the founder of Aesthetic Dance Studio directed and choreographed the dance drama—Premarabha.
As the audience settled into their seats, a melodious piano accompanied by a flute set the stage. Seven dancers in white gowns entered, forming a circle, with one stepping into the middle to perform a series of intricate hand movements.
This marked the beginning of Premarambha.
Getting inspiration and directing
Premarambha, a dance drama currently being staged at Navya Nachghar, depicts the story of two lovers whose relationship becomes complicated due to cultural, religious, and various other societal aspects. The entire drama revolves around the struggle of these two lovers as they strive to make their love possible. To find out if they succeed, you must watch the dance drama. When asked about the inspiration behind creating Premarambha, KC says, “There is nothing fancy about it.”
Earlier, in 2019, KC directed a dance drama Mokshada, which depicts the mythological story of five women. She wanted to stage Mokshada again but also wanted to work on a concept that the audience would embrace and enjoy. She thought the concept of love would be universally appealing.
KC considered classic themes such as Romeo and Juliet and Laila and Majnu. However, these stories have been performed many times. So, she dropped the idea and thought of creating something that would blend classic themes with stories relevant to contemporary society. This is how the idea of Premarambha was conceived.
Since Premarambha delves into the notion of love, director KC defines love as a natural phenomenon that should be simple. However, over time in the name of culture, tradition and civilization, love has been more complex.
“Culture, religion and identity should not create complexities in love,” she says.
While saying this KC remembers the Rukum massacre in which 24-year-old Nabaraj BK along with a group of his friends from Jajarkot, were brutally assaulted when they went to Soti village of Chaurjahari Municipality in Rukum West to bring his girlfriend home as a bride. Six young men lost their lives that day. The incident was the consequence of caste-based discrimination because BK belonged to a “lower caste”.
Preparing Preamarambha
Premarambha, featuring 11 artists, took two months to reach its final form. They were chosen through an open audition. “Many of them in this dance drama are new to the stage, and due to their lack of experience, it took relatively more time to groom them,” says KC, “However, all of the artists exhibited different levels of energy.”
The dance drama is usually taken to the stage by finalising the concept and music. Shrestha says, “Choreography does not take much time. Based on the story and music of the drama, the entire choreography is composed.”
However for Premarambha, due to time limitations, in the last phase music and choreography were done parallelly. Regarding the music featured in Premarambha, there has been a change from the earlier production this time.
“Earlier, we used to compose our music, but this time due to financial and time limitations, we were compelled to use the music from our previous production,” KC says. “Some of the music has been sourced from YouTube and other platforms.”
The makers of the dance drama attempted to compose their songs for the production. However, due to time constraints, they were unable to do so. So far, Premarambha has completed four shows, and according to KC, the feedback from the audience has exceeded expectations. KC recalls the difficulties they previously had in attracting an audience, but this time things have taken a different turn.
“All of the shows were almost sold out, and the responses from the audiences have motivated us,” says KC. She has also noticed a few spectators who have come repeatedly to watch the dance drama. “This is a huge achievement for us,” says KC.
Overcoming the need for space
Similar to Premarambha, Navya Nachghar, the venue hosting the dance drama, has its own story. As Aesthetic Dance Studio grew, both in terms of student numbers and hosting various events, the need for expansion became evident. Currently, the studio has over 240 students. Finding suitable venues for their events was always a significant challenge, both financially and logistically.
Besides financial considerations, another challenge of using rented venues is the inconvenience. They have to organise events around the availability of the venue, if the venue is booked the show has to be postponed or even cancelled.
So while searching for the venue they found a space in Sinamangal, which used to be a space for Purano Ghar Theatre. “We had always dreamt of having our own space to perform, and now that dream has finally come true,” KC says with excitement and adds, “Now there will be more programmes. Every Friday and Saturday, we want to host something at Navya Nachghar.”
Facing challenges
So far, before Premarambha, KC has directed five dance dramas: Swan Lake (2014), Jyanmaya (2016), Rajendralaxmi (2018), Mokshada (2019), and Joon: More Than a Fairy Tale (2023). While the stories of these dance dramas differ, the challenges KC faced while directing them were almost the same.
The first challenge, according to her, is finding a story writer for the dance drama. Normal story writing skills are not sufficient; it require a story writer who understands dance, drama, and music well. Another significant challenge in creating a dance drama is finding musicians willing to work in the form of dance drama, which is hard to find.
“Usually, musicians are supposed to compose music of four to five minutes, but in dance dramas, musicians have to compose music that will run throughout the entire performance, at least for an hour,” says KC. “Even if we find such musicians, they are often difficult to afford.”
Additionally, finance is a major challenge. Since this form of art does not receive funding from external sources, managing finances is always tough. “In dance drama, along with other elements, a good investment is required in costumes and make-up,” says KC to Onlinekhabar.
Due to a lack of financial resources, it has been challenging to produce professional-quality productions. KC says, “Due to a lack of both human and financial resources, we have been compelled to do mediocre work.”
Despite the abundance of challenges, KC is optimistic that the situation will improve soon and better productions will be staged.
Premarambha will run through every Friday and Saturday till September 14 at 5:30 pm at Navya Nachghar, Sinamangal, Kathmandu.
