Sheema Kermani and Faiz: The soulful duo

Sheema Kermani’s rhythmic dance routines rejuvenated Faiz’s hard-hitting poetry.

KARACHI:

Renowned classical dancer and activist dedicated an entire evening to Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry at the auditorium of the Arts Council in Karachi on September 7.

Faiz, the subcontinental poet, is well-known for his poetry on a wide array of topics ranging from love to loneliness to rebellion to feminism. The poet’s work was brought to life by the dance movements of Kermani and her talented dance troupe. The large attendance supported the fact that people still feel close to the writing of the poet.

Kermani performed to “Is Waqt Tou Youn Lagta Hai”, and “Ajj Kay Naam” — which talk about the dismal evenings of the downtrodden women and helpless widows during the poet’s time. Her most notable performances, however, were on “Yaad: Dasht-e-Tanhai”, “Shaam”, “Aajao Afrika” and “Hum Dekhain Gey”.

Every dance movement of Kermani stirred emotions in the audience, but with her performance on “Yaad: Dasht-e-Tanhai”, she took the show to another level. Kermani, who has performed on Faiz before — but had never completely dedicated an entire evening to his poetic rendition — felt pride in doing justice to Faiz’s verses by her equally fascinating routines. She states, “I have never completely dedicated an evening to Faiz’s poetry of romance and of rebellion loaded with strong political connotations. His poetry calls for activism and this is why I thoroughly enjoyed performing to it.”

According to Kermani, “The majority of the audience was able to grasp the beauty of Faiz’s poetry and though there were people who may not be connoisseurs of dance, the entire audience seemed to be enjoying the show.”

The show was enjoyed by a houseful audience and noted poet Fatima Hasan, who was part of the audience said, “I found the performance completely fascinating. The combination of Faiz’s poetry and Kermani’s performance was like double shot of pleasure. This was not only felt by me but others in the audience as well.”

Hasan explained, “True art is captured the moment one slips into the fantasy world. The art lover then incorporates fantasy into reality.”

“This is definitely art for art’s sake. For me, the aura was powerful enough to make my soul transcend to another world. Adding to Faiz and Kermani’s magic was the contribution by young performers in the troupe, who had a lot of energy in their dance routines and performed remarkably well.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2011.