Staging Dance shows to emulate Social Issues

Haritha Thamban is a classical dancer from the land of the glorious art form, North Malabar Kerala. She made a record for performing the maximum number of stage shows on social issues by a classical dancer with the India Book of Records. From a young age, she got inspired by the art form of Theyyam. Her shows are based on social issues like casteism, communalism, women related issues, and she has won many awards and prizes for her efforts. A dancer par excellence with over 500 dance shows performance based on social issues.

Haritha is the daughter and disciple of renowned Bharatnatyam Guru Dr. Kalamandalam Latha Edavalath and Drama Director Thamban Kambrath. With over 15 years of experience in this art form, she constantly scouts for social issues for her dance performances. Talking about her inspiration, Haritha says, “In one of his speeches, Mr. Soorya Krishnamurthy said that, ‘You all are good dancers and performers for me, but I will accept you as an ‘artist’ only if you do something for the society and world’. These words are my true inspiration, and I feel blessed to get a call from him to perform for one of the biggest art festivals, the ‘Soorya Festival’.”

She composes her dance recitals. Initially, her works were choreographed by her mother, Guru Dr.Kalamandalam Latha Edavalath, and her aunt Guru Kalakshetra Vidyalakshmi. And from her father, Thamban Kambrath, she learned to direct the themes using dramatic techniques, more simply so that everyone can understand the theme easily.

Coming from a family full of artists, Haritha got exposed to various art forms and creativity from her childhood. Her art-loving parents were a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. As an artist, she first scouts for a social cause she relates with, and then starts the research process. Scriptwriting follows, post good research, and sessions with the lyricist begin for the music composition. And then Haritha begins her choreography.

For her next dance recital, Haritha is working on the theme of Islam. She believes that there is a lot of controversy surrounding this religion and people following Islam tend to move away from the field of Arts. The dance recital will be based on Quran.