Lavani in the house

Dancers Akanksha Kadam and Pushpa Satarkar at a lavani workshop held before the pandemic. Pic/Kunal Vijayakar

The Maharashtrian art form of lavani has been around for centuries, states Bhushan Korgaonkar, co-founder of city-based artiste platform Kali Billi. "It's always been an entertaining form of art. Fortunately, over the years, the practice has managed to retain that element," he shares. On October 17, Korgaonkar will helm the Liberate Through Lavani workshop, a two-hour virtual session that will introduce participants to the art of lavani, with the help of lyrics.

Bhushan Korgaonkar

"Through this workshop I want to get participants acquainted with two different forms of lavani - the traditional and the contemporary versions. Participants are then allowed to choose the form they like, to base their mukhada, or lyrics on," he adds.

Korgaonkar will also share tips and tricks of the trade, and formulae of writing the mukhadas. The aim, he shares, is to impart the tradition, and to keep it alive for future generations. "There's no upper limit to who can attend. Because of lavani's often-erotic nature, 14-year-olds and above can tune in," he concludes.

On: October 17, 11 am to 1 pm Log on to insider.in
Cost: Rs 100