Song of Moen jo Daro comes alive 20 years after first performance

Sheema Kermani and Tehrik-e-Niswan position dance in our society.

KARACHI:

Exactly twenty years after the first performance of Song of Moen jo Daro, Sheema Kermani and her dance group Tehrik-e-Niswan brought the dance of the Indus back to life in Karachi.

The group performed outdoors at the Alliance Française as members of the audience braved the distinctly chilly night.

“This dance attempts to explore the origins of dance in our culture and shows how integral dance is to our culture of labour and life,” Kermani said.

The story of Song of Moen jo Daro is reminiscent of a ballet but was performed in a distinctly eastern classical style. It tells the story of Bhairvi who wants to become a dancer but her fiancé Peelu forbids her from learning the art. After discovering Bhairvi learning how to dance, he takes back his engagement ring and in a fit of rage Peelu goes into a fantasy world where he takes a trip down the Indus, goes back in time and ends up in Moen jo Daro.

At this point, the routine comes alive as the lights combined with the outfits and movements of the performers, around 20 of them, re-creates and romanticizes what Mohenjo Daro must have been like. The first of the most captivating scenes take place as the dancers depict how peasants work the fields. Mohsin Khan, who plays Peelu’s friend Bihag, stole the show with his confident, rhythmic style.

According to the myth in the story, artists and the Indus Apsara (dancer) were not allowed to marry outsiders in order to preserve the art within that circle. As Peelu sees an Indus dancer, she reminds him of his fiancée and he pursues her, against the wishes of members of the community.

On another level, the performance was a commentary on the place of dance in Pakistani society and Kermani seems to have drawn inspiration from darker times. “During Zia-ul Haq’s era we were not allowed to dance on stage,” she said. “I researched our heritage to come up with the basis of this story.”

After Peelu experiences different walks of life in Moen jo Daro through dance and helps the community summon rain, he is caught up in a scandal when a priest accuses the Indus dancer of trying to elope with an outsider. The city turns violent and floods destroy it. Peelu is brought back to present time a changed man with a great respect for dance. He begs his fiancé for forgiveness and the story draws to an end.

Some of the dancers in the group were veterans from the first show ever performed but the younger students also wowed the crowd with their grasp over the discipline.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2012.