Āhuti
THE NRITYAGRAM DANCE ENSEMBLE in collaboration with THE CHITRASENA DANCE COMPANY
ĀHUTI
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2024 · 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024 · 7:30 PM
The Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Program
Āhuti
Sanskrit: Invoking | Pali: Offering
SANKIRTANAM (a prayer)
Wandering minstrels sing and dance in praise of Lord Krishna…
The lotus-eyed lord
with the flute in his hands
and a peacock feather in his hair.
The eternal lover,
the yogi,
the last refuge.
Protector of the universe,
he is the purest of all beings.
The only truth.
Dancers
Anoushka Rahman, Rohini Banerjee, Pavithra Reddy, Daquil Miriyala
POORNĀRATĪ
In most South Asian traditions, the arts serve as a medium to attain the highest state of being. Temple rituals integrate dance as an essential medium of worship to invoke and propitiate the powers that govern the natural order of the universe.
Poornāratī, which means “complete offering,” seeks to invoke the principles of the Universe, both male and female, that we may dance in their Presence.
Odissi Dancers
Anoushka Rahman, Rohini Banerjee, Daquil Miriyala
Kandyan Dancers
Thaji Dias, Kushan Dharmarathna, Amandi Gomez
INTERMISSION
INVOKING SHIVA
Attributed to Ravana, Sri Lanka’s great warrior king, who was a devotee of Shiva,
the God of dance and destruction.
Shiva!
From the forest
of your matted locks
descends
the celestial river Ganga.
A mighty serpent
garlands you lovingly,
the glittering gem
in his magical hood
radiates brilliance,
that anoints the faces
of the four-directions
with a delicate hue.
Adorned
only by the sky,
a new-born moon jewels your locks
and your forehead smoulders
with the fire of your third eye.
Your ceaseless drum song
pervades the universe,
as you dance
your fearsome Tandava.
Perfect consort to Himalaya’s daughter,
you are the ever-compassionate
destroyer of evil.
Opening your third eye
you burnt to ashes
the God of Love,
the five-arrowed Kamadeva,
disrupter of your meditation.
You are the Universe.
Invincible.
Infinite.
Eternal.
On you
I meditate.
Dance
on the funeral pyres
in my heart
and release me
from this universe.
Dancers
Thaji Dias, Pavithra Reddy
ĀLĀP
The Kandyan and Odissi dance traditions meet in space, to challenge, combine and embrace each other through musical conversation and rhythmic dialogue.
Dancers
Pavithra Reddy, Rohini Banerjee, Thaji Dias, Amandi Gomez, Anoushka Rahman, Daquil Miriyala, Kushan Dharmarathna
ABOUT THE DANCE FORMS
Kandyan Dance
Kandyan dance comes from Kandy, an area in the Central hills region in Sri Lanka. According to legend, the origins of the dance lie in an exorcism ritual known as the Kohomba Kankariya, which was performed by shamans from India, who came to the island at the request of a king suffering from a mysterious illness. After the performance of the ritual, the illness vanished and the local people adopted the dance.
Originally performed by dancers who were identified as a separate caste and aligned to the Temple of the Tooth, the dance declined when support from the Kandyan kings ended in the colonial period.
Kandyan Dance was adapted for the stage in the 1940s, by Chitrasena. His wife and dance partner, Vajira, was the first professional female Kandyan dancer, and together they established Kandyan dance as a performance art. Their popularity helped to reduce the caste barriers surrounding the dance and made it accessible to an urban, contemporary audience.
Odissi
For centuries, a temple has looked out at a turbulent sea, its walls dancing a prayer to the rising sun. Magnificent ruins like these, in Odisha in Eastern India, confirm that Odissi was performed as far back as 200 BCE. Originally a sacred ritual dedicated to the gods, Odissi is one of the oldest dance traditions in the world. Its sinuous forms, languorous limbs and rapt expressions frozen in stone tell of a past rich in dance, music, myth, and legend.
Odissi speaks of love and union, between human and divine, transporting viewers to enchanted worlds of magic and spirituality. Its sensuousness and lyricism reflect both the motifs of Odisha temple sculpture as well as the poetry from the deep wellsprings of Oriya music.
Artistic Director / Choreographer / Sound Design
Surupa Sen
Music Composer
Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi
Rhythm Composers
Dhaneswar Swain (India)
Presanna Singakkara (Sri Lanka)
Surupa Sen
Dancers (Nrityagram)
Pavithra Reddy
Anoushka Rahman
Rohini Banerjee
Daquil Miriyala
Dancers (Chitrasena)
Thaji Dias
Kushan Dharmarathna
Amandi Gomez
Musicians (India)
Jateen Sahu, lead vocal & harmonium
Rohan Dahale, chants & mardala (percussion)
Parshuram Das, bamboo flute
Siba Nayak, violin
Surupa Sen, lead voice (Poornāratī & Invoking Shiva) & manjira
Musician (Sri Lanka)
Sadew Athsara, Kandyan drum
Assistant Choreographer
Heshma Wignaraja (Chitrasena)
Master Tailor
Ghulam Rasool
Executive Producer / Technical Director / Lighting Designer
Lynne Fernandez
Nrityagram – The Dance Village
www.nrityagram.org
lynne@nrityagram.org
Tour Coordinator
Joanna Futral
Exclusive USA Tour Representation
Pentacle
Sandy Garcia
sandyg@pentacle.org
www.pentacle.org
The performance runs for 100 minutes including a 20-minute intermission.