Two dance dramas—Baramkhana and Shyama- were staged on the second day of the ongoing dance drama festival at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Tuesday.
Bogra-based troupe Amra Kajon Shilpy Goshthi staged Baramkhana while Dhaka-based group Nrityalok staged Shyama.
The eight-day festival has been jointly organised by Bangladesh Nritya Shilpy Sangstha and the academy.
The first show of the evening was Baramkhana, a dance drama version based on Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel on the legendary bard Fakir Lalon Shah.
Written and directed by Abdus Samad Polash, the dance drama featured life of the legendary bard and his philosophy.
The dance drama also highlights relevance of Lalon’s humanitarian philosophy in the contemporary time when people are sharply divided in question of religion.
Most of the choreographies of the dance drama were presented based on popular Lalon songs.
Following Baramkhana, Nrityalok staged Rabindranath Tagore’s romantic tragedy Shyama.
Directed by noted dancer Kabirul Islam Ratan, the dance drama narrates love story of Shyama, a court dancer, and Bojrosen, a foreign merchant who is falsely accused of robbery and held captive by the royal guard of Puri.
In her desperate attempt to save Bojrosen, Shyama urges her admirer Uttiyo to take the blame and sacrifice his life which Uttiyo happily does while Shyama elopes with her lover.
But, when Bojrosen learns how he was saved Shyama, he rejects her love.
The disillusioned Shyama commits suicide and Bojrosen is left to lead a life full of repentance.