The
"Contemporary Indian Dance Project" translates concepts from the YOGA SUTRA
(e.g. perception, discrimination,
self-awareness, senses) into the language of dance. By transferring all
the dynamism and expressive power of classical Bharata Natyam and Kathakali
dance into the contemporary forms of modern dance, the performers make
the movements of consciousness visible. An additional element comes from
Cuba (Martha Galarraga of Cojunto Folclorico National de Cuba): a similar
spirituality enlivens in Afro-Cuban dance and song spiritualism, but unmistakable.
The stage concept is
austere and uncompromising: one male (P.T. Narendran) and one female (Alexandra
Romanova) dancer perform something which is generally considered to be
difficult or impossible to depict: the processes of the soul and spirit.
Indian dance's many expressive possibilities
provide a wide spectrum of choreographic options, the language of hands,
the geometry of the steps - even the face itself is "danced". Feelings
and contents leap from the performers to the audience. The powerfully expressive
music of Mangalam lends its own independent element to the performance:
the dancers follow the ingenious rhythms of South Indian music; the melodic
lines of the music are reflected in the choreography and in the bodies
of the dancers. The concept and music of YOGA SUTRA was created by
Rikhy Ray , composer, vajra veena
player and yoga scholar (student of Sri Yogeshwarananda Saraswati ). Mr.
Srivatsa Ramaswami, from Madras, suported the project with scholarly
consultation.
The story:
A handsome, successful merchant spends a
night with his beautiful girlfriend. The next morning, he is awakened by
an inner impulse. As usual, he begins his morning exercises and prayer.
Suddenly, something inside him resists the daily ritual. The merchant's
routine self-confidence is shaken.
He searches for the source of this impulse
and discovers the beginning of a new path. Piece by piece, the basic tenets
of YOGA SUTRA come alive within him, not theoretically, but in practical
steps: bodily postures (asanas), breath control (pranayama), withdrawal
of the sensory organs (pratyahara), concentration, meditation, samadhi
(samyama) till the "seer "rests at ease in his own being.
The scenes:
1. Invocation; 2. Samsara (the world);
3. Diksha (initiation); 4 Asana; 5 Pranayama; 6. Pratyahara;
7. Samyama; 8. Moksha (liberation); 9.Tillana (concluding dance
item)
1999 - German tour (Berlin, Munich, karlsruhe,
Heidelberg, Padeborn, Bonn, Hildesheim, Dortmund, Aachen...);
International Festival of Yoga in Havana (Cuba).