subima
shrestha
ARTIST
ARTIST
Subima Shrestha is a Kathak (one of the major forms of Indian classical dance) dancer, choreographer and an art educator. She has a Master’s in Kathak from Shree Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Delhi under the guidance of Guru Shikha Khare. Her intense training in Kathak has taught her to understand the importance of subtleties and details in movements and bhava (emotion conveyed by a performer). Her choreography maintains the integrity of each dance while finding ways to combine the unity. Her focus is on identifying and encouraging each individual’s personality in their dance in teaching. She is the founder and teacher at Nritya Aagan, a dance academy in Nepal, and founding member of Srijanalaya, a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to alternative forms of art education in Nepal. Her performance and composition range from purely classical dance form of Kathak to storytelling through dance. Her composition on violence against women titled ‘Earth Body and Mind’ has been showcased in national and international art festivals.
She works in hybridization of Kathak with ethnic and traditional culture and art. She also organizes culture shows.
I have realized that I relate deeply to the ways in which Rekha and Gauri have been seen as ‘odd’ and now over time ‘unique’ in society. I have asked myself what is it that motivates them to fight, to struggle. There was a moment when performing when I expected to embody Rekha strength in her home in Brahmapuri, and I realized I felt such a deep sense of sor-row, perhaps for the struggles we each are making just to be able to find some ease in the decisions we want to make for ourselves. Each of the women talk about creating space for both themselves and others to be ‘free’, to define their own freedom.
We felt a kind of comforting coolness on reaching the porch of Rekha’s house. This porch, where she sits with the village women to listen to their problems and to solve them, probably also gives the women relief and safety.
The search to express - the imagination of dancing on the floor of Rekha Devi’s porch, the comfort the village women find in her company, and her energy, drive and hopes – through body movements resulted in the dance improvization that is Voice. Rekha and Subima paint each other’s hands with the white they chose, in an attempt to connect with each other emotionally. The music was improvized in response to the expressions and body movements.
स्वर | Voice , 2021
Pranav Narayan Manandhar (b. 1991) & Subima Shrestha (b.1978)
Media: Multimedia video in three parts (below)
Size: Variable
The four audio files below should be played individually while watching the video above.
Ghumto pratha
Fighting Back The Pressures
Comment at Sahaj Pariyojana
Unconditional Determination
Video #3 credits:
Conceptualization and dance: Subima Shrestha
Music, direction videography and edit: Pranav Narayan Manandhar
In her deuda song, Gauri Bista has expressed her grief of losing her husband and her internal struggles of not having the society’s support. Subima Shrestha has interpreted classical dance mudras in her own ways to align with the sorrow expressed in the deuda sung by Gauri.
The Self is a novel and experimental collaboration between three different musical genres in Raga Sarang and meter of five (Chhanda paanch). Nepali folk song in the form of deuda, classical string instrument – sarod and Newa instrument – naaya-khin have been used here. According to sarod guru Suresh Raj Bajracharya, such a coming together of sarod and naaya-khin is the first of its kind.
The count of odd numbers is considered difficult in music. Its path isn’t straightforward but continuous practice increases one’s capacity to understand it. Gauri has also adopted a continuity and practice in her lifestyle. Regardless of how the society outside criticizes and restricts her, with faith in her ideals and work, she has maintained a continuity with faith in her ideals and work. This continuity and her search for identity has been shown metaphorically through the movements of Kathak in the opposite direction. The white colour in her hands signify her own freedom.
स्व | Self, 2021
Media: Multimedia (below)
Size: variable
Conceptualized and Choreographed by Subima Shrestha
Lyrics and Vocal by Gauri Bista
Music and Sarod by Suresh Raj Bajracharya
Directed and Edited by Irina Giri
Camera Work by Pranav Narayan Manandhar
Nyaa Kheen by Bipu Shrestha
Dhime and Dama by Laxmi prasad Dangol
Audio Recording by Firoj Baracharya
Srijanalaya, UN Women, LACC, Nasala Chitrakar, Gauri Bista, Rekha Devi Yadav, Yantra House, Mahankal, Kathmandu, Manju Shakya.
