Kicking up stardust: Kirmani bedazzles at ILF inaugural session

Renowned classical dancer entrances audience with rhythm, just as dastango weave mythical narratives from bygone era.

ISLAMABAD:

In a fitting beginning to the second Islamabad Literature Festival, the renowned classical dancer Sheema Kirmani rendered a splendid performance at Margalla Hotel on Friday evening.

This year’s programme for the three-day festival goes beyond literary discourse and readings. The elaborate literary extravaganza will encompass sessions on art, theatre and poetry  branching out into the multi-faceted realm of visual and performing arts.

A red beam spotlight and the sweet sound of ghungroos announced Kirmani’s petite silhouette on stage. Wrapped in a pristine white and silver peshwaz, Kirmani performed select verses from the poetry of Fehmida Riaz.

From the moment she stepped on stage until the final bow, her delicate movements and dramatic expression had the audience wholly mesmerized. Swaying gently, stamping her feet with poise and swirling with grace, her stage presence resounded with an almost palpable energy.

The classical dance performance was followed by a dastangoi session — the famed age-old practice of storytelling in Urdu.  Clad in crisp, white kurtas and donning traditional caps, Fawad Khan and Nazrul Hasan of National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) narrated the popular tales of Dastan-e-Amer Hamza and Tilism-e Hoshruba, based on South Asian and Persian mythology, and comparable to the Odyssey. These tales of romance, magic and Herculean valour rekindled the splendour of tales spun during the 18th – 19th century.

In a similar vein, Danish Husain and Darain Shahidi — who had travelled all the way from India for the session — enthralled the audience with their command over the Urdu language, slangs and jokes, while presenting a glowing tribute to Saadat Hasan Manto. With their authentic, enunciated Lucknow and Delhi accents, prompt comic timing and dynamic narration, they transported the listeners to another realm.

Gushing over the performance, an audience member Maryam remarked, “I loved both the sessions. But it is heartening to see that people from across the border are performing at Manto’s centennial, while nobody from our own country has celebrated our literary legends such as Faiz or Manto in the same way.”

Najam, another guest, had higher expectations from Kirmani’s performance, but said the storytellers were top-notch. “The storytellers who came from Karachi especially belonged to a league of their own — they left us all spell-bound.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2014.