Nrityagram Dance Ensemble - Bijayini Sathpathy Photo courtesy of Sonia Manchanda
Members of the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble live for their art. They all reside together, like a family, in a remote village known as Hessaraghatta, in Bangalore India, for the sole purpose of perfecting their acumen at classical Indian dance. Their days are devoted to dance and related subjects such as yoga, martial arts, mythology, Sanskrit and meditation. Otherwise, they're off touring, showing the world the wonders of their art form.
Nrityagram Dance Ensemble - Pavitra Reddy Photo courtesy of Sonia Manchanda
Two performances of the Sacred Space attended by about 700 people were totally sold out at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum(YBCA) in Sanfrancisco. The performance started with a narration on the Odissi(A north Indian classical dance form) style of dancing by Sen and an accompaniment by a four-member musical orchestra with vocal by Raghunath Panigrahi. It began with "Sankirtanam" - a prayer in praise of Krishna and continued with "Rituvasant," an exhibition of the Odissi lexicon. "Nirvritti" endeavored to show us the religious basis of the movement. After intermission, Sen depicted the relationship between Krishna and Radha, the male and female principles united and ultimately fused; the source is the 12th century Sanskrit poem, Geet Govinda.
The highlight of the evening, the courtship of Radha and Krishna portrayed by Sen and Bijayini Satpathy culminated leaving one with a feeling of sensual dizziness and one of those moments you carry in your memory for years.
"Nrityagram Dance Ensemble’s unique ability to build a bridge between tradition and innovation is why it was chosen to be featured at the Yerba Buena Center’s Risk and Response Series," said Kenneth J Foster, Executive Director for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
"This outstanding group of artists is actively revitalising an ancient dance form by creating new work that adheres to a rich history and cultural tradition, while making it accessible to new audiences," Kenneth added.
The other performers in Sacred Space were Manasi Tripathy, Rasmi Raj, Ayoni Bhaduri and Pavithra Reddy. The musicians were Ranjan Kumar Beura, Pashuram Das, Sampada Maraballi and Budhanath Swain..
"One of the most luminous dance events of the year! Performed with a burnished grace, a selfless concentration and a depth that reflected their intensive training in dance, music, literature, language, and philosophy."
—The New York Times
Biographies
Surupa Sen (Artistic Director, choreographer, dancer) is the first student at Nrityagram, where she began her Odissi training with the late body language genius and major architect of Odissi, Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. She also studied with Protima Gauri, founder of Nrityagram, and took workshops in abhinaya (narrative dance or mime) with Smt. Kalanidhi Narayanan. As a child, she studied the temple dance form of south India, Bharatanatyam, to which she attributes her preoccupation with form and line. Attracted to choreography from her first exposure to western makers of dances, she participated in the International Choreographer’s Residency at the American Dance Festival in 2000 (thanks to a grant from the Asian Cultural Council). Over the years she has worked on movement with Theater der Klaenge, Rob McWilliams, Maggie Sietsma, and Wolfgang Hoffman, as well as Ramli Ibrahim, Ranjabati Sircar, and Mahesh Mahbubani.Surupa has performed in solo recital and ensemble all over India, the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and the Middle East. Her evening-length work, Sri—In Search of the Goddess (2000), consisted of both a non-traditional suite (Night, Fire, Dialogue with Death) and a re-working of traditional dance (Srimati, Srimayi, Sridevi).
Sacred Space is a new repertoire using an expanded traditional Odissi vocabulary. For Sacred Space, Surupa received the award for best choreography and best dancer of the season from the prestigious Music Academy, Chennai.
Bijayini Satpathy (Director of Odissi Gurukul, soloist) joined the Orissa Dance Academy, in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa (at the age of seven), where she trained under Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and Guru Kanduri Charan Behara for 13 years. An insatiable thirst for knowledge led her to Nrityagram in 1993, where she flourished under the guidance of Protima Gauri and also through her collaboration with Surupa Sen. She attributes her own artistic growth to Nrityagram’s intense concentration on dance as well as her interaction with other practitioners of performing arts. Bijayini has performed solo and with the ensemble all over the world and has received national and international recognition, including the 2003 Mahari Award, given to the best Odissi dancer of the year. As Director of the Odissi Gurukul, Bijayini is creating new techniques for Odissi dance training and works on extending the vocabulary of the traditional form.
Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (Composer) is one of the foremost singers of Orissa. With his wife, the legendary dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi, and her guru, the late Kelucharan Mahapatra, he has developed compositions that are the mainstay of Odissi dance. "His understanding of Sanskrit and Oriya music is so profound," says Surupa Sen, "that the very way in which he puts words to melody leads me to the movements I choreograph."
Pavithra Reddy (dancer) came to Nrityagram in 1990 as part of the outreach program, from a village near Nrityagram. She has learned Odissi under the tutelage of Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy and has been a part of the ensemble since 1993. She had her solo debut in 2003 and now teaches dance in the village and city outreach program. Ayona Bhaduri (dancer) came all the way from Bengal to learn Odissi at Nrityagram. She has been a student of Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy since 1998. She has been with the ensemble since 2001.
Rasmi Raj (dancer) studied at Orissa Dance Academy in Bhubaneshwar for five years before she came to Nrityagram for advanced training with Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy.
Manasi Tripathy (dancer) is from Bhubaneshwar, where she trained for 10 years under Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra before coming to Nrityagram. She now trains under Surupa Sen and Bijayini Satpathy. This is her first tour with the ensemble to the U.S.
Lynne Fernandez (lighting designer, Director of Nrityagram) has been with Nrityagram since 1993. Among the first practicing light professionals in India, she has worked as actress and light designer with leading directors like Barry John, Joy Michael, Ranjit Kapoor, and Lillete Dubey. Her work in theater has also been featured internationally—at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Westend (London), and in the acclaimed U.S. premiere of Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like a Man (New York).
Of her work with the ensemble, Surupa Sen says "she understands dance intuitively and is able to create the visual space that enhances our work. Her contribution is the luminosity, the look that has become characteristic of the ensemble."
As Director of Nrityagram, Lynne is responsible for administration, fundraising, and project development, among other things. Her recent projects include building a dance facility with a studio, auditorium, exhibition space, and physiotherapy unit. She has also overseen the emergence of the ensemble onto the international arena.
For more information visit : http://www.nrityagram.org
