WISCOMP Celebrates 25 Years with Unique Multi-logue Performance: “OUR VOICE” on Women, War & Peace by Geeta Chandran and Natya Vriksha Dance Collective

Commissioned by WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), Geeta Chandran and the Natya Vriksha Dance Collective presented “Our Voice”, a powerful reimagining of women’s struggles through the language of dance theatre inspired by Bharatanatyam. This event marked WISCOMP’s 25th anniversary, celebrating its commitment to foregrounding women’s leadership in peace and security across South Asia. WISCOMP, an initiative of the “Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama“, promotes dialogue, capacity-building and trauma healing across borders, fostering cultures of pluralism and coexistence in the region.

Geeta Chandran said, “OUR VOICE has shaken me out of my comfort zone. The process of its evolution involved several sessions of speaking about the women’s issues that we felt were critical to our times. War and the price women most pay was foremost. But also, the daily grind of finding meaningful spaces that allow women’s agency was another. The script slowly evolved into movement workshopping. And through this fire has emerged OUR VOICE. Hope it will be heard… and heeded.”

Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Founder & Director, WISCOMP said, “Geeta Chandran has delivered a tour de force on the resilience of women in the face of conflict and violence and their aspiration to craft peace.  The presentation is sheer poetry in motion on the audacity of hope…..evocatively essayed as only Geeta Chandran can do. It resonates deeply with WISCOMP’s efforts to craft a vocabulary that has the power to transcend the challenges of fragmentation and divisiveness in today’s world.”

About the Production :

Twenty-five years after her acclaimed performance, “Her Voice”, Geeta Chandran revisits and expands this narrative with “Our Voice”, a poignant depiction of women’s ongoing struggles against patriarchal power. While the original work closely examined Draupadi’s personal and political losses in the Mahabharata, this new work expands into a narrative that is universal, exploring the ongoing battles women face against the tides of patriarchal power, grappling with crises of identity, agency and autonomy. These struggles, though contemporary in their manifestations, are deeply anchored in the past – echoes of the unending drudgery and quiet endurance that have marked women’s lives through history.

Chandran employs the metaphor of water to express the fluid yet constrained lives of women, whose potential power is often unrealized. Through movement, “Our Voice” explores women’s resilience and vulnerability in the face of conflict and their relentless pursuit of freedom. Chandran’s choreography is a tribute to the enduring spirit of women and the possibilities of peace, leaving us to contemplate whether women can transcend their shattered experiences and truly become the ocean they aspire to be.