A swirling mass of blinding gold and red hits the eye. Only upon closer inspection, you see a ghunghroo-adorned foot peeking through the heavily-embroidered costume. Look even closer and you can spot the graceful yet sensuous movement of arms and legs to fast beats. The hypnotic Kalbelia dancer forms one of the subjects of "Dancescapes", a photography exhibition featuring performing artists, that opens in Delhi tomorrow at the India Habitat Centre.
Seated in her beautiful home on Sardar Patel Marg in Lutyens' Delhi, the photographer, Shobha Deepak Singh, also director of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, chats zealously about the art adorning the walls of her living room - paintings by S H Raza, Sanjay Bhattacharya and M F Husain. She is planning to add more contemporary names on her walls. "I will turn 70 this September and hope to have a great party here," she says.
Singh caught the photography bug when she was all of six years old and captured her siblings on her handy Roliflex camera. The daughter of Lala Charat Ram, the youngest son of Lala Shri Ram who founded the DCM empire, she grew up in a cultural environment. After joining the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in 1968, Singh began to dabble in some stage photography. "In those days, there was no auto-focus in cameras and it was difficult to capture that one moment." For instance, in the production of Ramayana, it was nearly impossible to capture the pivotal moment when Ram breaks Shiva's dhanush. So Singh requested a foreign correspondent for The Times of India to bring her one from the US. "Unfortunately", laments Singh, "I didn't foresee the significance of those photographs back then and chucked the negatives!"
In 1992, Singh joined Ebrahim Alkazi's Direction Course of Living Theatre and began to take her hobby seriously. Once, she recalls, she took some images of the set and the productions. Petrified that Alkazi would be furious, a shy Singh was delighted when he praised her work and showcased them in an exhibition!
For her upcoming exhibition, Singh sifted through some 300,000 photographs spanning over five decades and countless memories, and shortlisted 70 of her favourites; 250 of these have been collated in an accompanying book. Curated by Alka Pande, the exhibition will showcase snapshots of performances of Birju Maharaj, Sonal Mansingh, and several younger artists like Asavari Mazumdar and Sharmistha Mukherjee. One interesting photograph features a performance by Kathakali choreographer Shashidharan Nair's group - with the dancers' flowing hair and arms flying high in a maddening frenzy, the image captures their fluid moments almost perfectly.
"Movement is monumental," says Singh. "It is the transition, the journey to the perfect moment that I like to capture." One of her favourite moments in time, she says, was when she captured Draupadi's flowing hair during a performance of the vastraharan. The photograph currently lies in the archives of the Kala Kendra.
In the last two decades, says Singh, her craft has evolved as her lens has captured the evolution of theatre, music and dance. "Theatre, especially, is more free and frank today." She talks of Sita, one of Ramayana's most consistent characters who is "bolder and more assertive" in the recent productions of the Ramlila. Another favourite is a snapshot of Shiv Kumar Sharma performing with a halo of light surrounding his grey hair.
Singh's zeal for photography is evident. Twenty years ago, Singh was keen to capture a performance at Sirifort Auditorium. A petite woman, she couldn't find a vantage point to get the perfect shot. "So I stood on my lens box and got the picture anyway!"
Dancescapes is on till April 2
