CHICAGO: Chicago’s Kalapriya Dance, under the direction of founder and artistic director Pranita Jain, recently presented its world premiere of “Mirror of Enlightenment” at downtown Harris Theater.
The dance-drama adapted classical Bharata Natyam to depict the attempt by Passion, Aggression and Ignorance, the three daughters of Mara (Death), to distract the would-be Buddha rapt in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree.
Prince Siddhartha’s sorrows and Mara’s violence were choreographed by Komal Shah in sharp contrast to the meditative introversion of the Buddha.
The refined dance movements, tuned to music, were immediately narrative. Saraswathi Ranganathan’s music arrangement and veena improvisation flowed seamlessly from one scene to the next to depict the shifting moods in a colorful sweep. While other hearts are blossoming to youthful spring heralded by raga Vasanta, Siddhartha divests his body of its encumbering royal attributes.
The inner consolidation of his spiritual insight amidst the tugs of temptation, each onslaught from without sublimated into a yet higher awakening within, is reaffirmed by the sublime ‘Vedic’ raga Revati. While it is unlikely that his earliest disciples and the orthodox today would approve, the world-renouncer joins in the ecstatic climax where the entire troupe dances to the exuberant thillana in Rag Paras.
The percussive footwork, stylized postures, gestures and costumes, the classical vocabulary of Bharata Natyam, were simplified for the contemporary audience and two of the dancers were actually non-Desis. “Ashley Fargoli brought an intense quietude to her role as the Buddha to neutralize Akanksha Dhar as the God of Death. Anupama Bhatt as the Passionate daughter wowed the audience. The weaving in of northern Kathak and martial Kalaripayattu infused the performance with kinetic energy,” Ranganathan told India Post.
Fulcrum Point New Music Project (FP), Chicago’s leader in New Art Music led by Stephen Burns, hosted this one-night-only concert, which was also the stage for the U.S. Premiere of Raga Fields, Concerto for Sarod and Ensemble, by prominent Indian composer Param Vir, an international leader in contemporary music, featuring sarod virtuoso Soumik Datta.
An original FP commission, Raga Fields interlocked contemporary music with classical Indian tradition, forging a vibrant sound to project the power and energy of two different musical traditions. Modal, tonal and atonal harmonic fields merged with fleeting raga-like allusions, all of them encased in rich western contemporary counterpoint and orchestration. The work was intended to mirror the contemporary world where monolithic cultures have given way to the merging of many traditions, a melting pot of possibilities. Special guest musician Soumik Datta, known as a virtuoso on the sarod, joined the 25-member FP ensemble for this premiere.
Tabla master Kalyan Pathak joined Stephen Burns on trumpet and Datta on sarod to improvise on rag Rageshri. He accompanied FP flutist Mary Stolper in rendering a composition in Rag Lalit by Shirish Korde. Pathak’s Jazz Mata group then teamed up with three FP musicians to improvise “Mingus in Miyanki Blues,” where Rag Todi was elaborated with jazz and blues sonorities. The Indian and Western artistes thus explored convergences between the two traditions to facilitate the birth of a new aesthetic.
Since its formation by trumpet virtuoso and conductor Burns in 1998 under the auspices of Performing Arts Chicago, FP seeks to encourage audiences to make cross-cultural connections between new music, art, technology and literature, gaining greater insight into today’s diverse world.
Elizabeth Visuvalingam
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