FROM A TIME WHEN SOCIETY WROTE HER DESTINY, COMES THE STORY OF WOMAN WHO LIVED WITH DIGNITY IN THE FACE OF PROFOUND TURBULENCE AND TRAGEDY.
Rani Chennamma of Kitturu was the widowed queen of a small principality in the South of India in the early 1800s.
An extraordinary woman for her times, she led one of the earliest of armed resistance against the rise of British colonial hegemony in India.
Click here for an informal introduction to the colonial history of India.
Her sheer grit to retain autonomy for her people notwithstanding, Rani Chennamma was ultimately captured by the British and died in captivity.
Click here for a short introduction to history of Kitturu.
This solo production by Jyothsna Sainath (jyothsnasainath.com), is told in the language of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance genre from the South of India.
This work is a co-created with Maya Kulkarni, pathbreaking choreographer, and master story-teller. https://mayakulkarni.org/
Dance, music, spoken word and multimedia content are brought to bear to narrate this intimate, first person account of the turbulence and tragedy that marked Rani Chennamma’s life, one that was circumscribed by the messy and complex dilemmas of an era when society charted a certain path for women to tread, queens or otherwise.
The media content for today’s historical presentation was created with an
Artist Scholarship from Utah Division of Arts and Museums to Jyothsna Sainath.
Q & A at the end of the event.
Creative Credits:
Musical Arrangement: Gampalahally Gurumurthy
Media Content Creation: Anusha Pusuluri, Willow Skye-Biggs
Media Editing: Glinted Frames, Mumbai, Anusha Pusuluri
Poetry: Late G. N. T. Harini (Kajanada Gudinda)
Technical Credits:
Sound recording and editing: Prabhath Sound Studio, Bengaluru
Sound & Projection management: Blake Alonzo
Lighting Design: Kai Sadowsky & Rachel Harned.
Please click on the thumbnails below for bios:
