The Courtesan Project by Manjari Chatruvedi

The well-researched cultural production dedicated to the performing art of the Courtesan brings to forefront the art through both Information, Communication & Technology and the live performance. This is an exhaustive research as it brings alive dance and stories of women who were stigmatised by the society for being performers of both music and dance and in an unfortunate society ridden by gender discrimination. These women were not even part of the documentation history of the performing arts. Any study on history of arts will be incomplete without a reference to the Courtesan who was the muse for poets, painters, musicians, and the creative thought at large. Their poetry, with the interlacing of Persian and Awadhi language influence touched the soul, their music – ghazals, dadra and thumri gayaki where each note resonated the singer’s emotions and never failed to captivate the audience, and their dance, with delicate movements and expressions, manifesting the poetry through the language of the body - all lost along the pages of history. The Courtesans too have all faded. A few compositions that have managed to endure bear testimony to the sheer timelessness and allure of those words and music. Manjari performs this production wherein she recreates the dance of these incredible women performers, the royal performers of the erstwhile courts and relive and recreate a bygone era.