Of pirouettes, lifts and abhinaya

Fused energies

When Om split, it not only led to the origin of Sanskrit but also gave rise to 50 different sounds, their permutations and combinations creating this vast universe. Thus Sanskrit came to be called the source of everything. This ancient language recently formed the theme of the dance recital which displayed a unique fusion of classical Odissi and Western Ballet.

Organised by Rays of Wisdom Society and ITDC, the programme held at The Ashok, enchanted the audiences with its unusual fusion concept that brought together the art of the East and the West!

Odissi exponent Reela Hota and Romanian ballet artists from Bucharest National Opera House converged to present ‘Sanskrit - The Mantra Bhasha’ which highlighted the healing and transcendental aspects of Sanskrit.

The recital was divided into various sections that only left the audience spellbound viewing the different combinations between Indian classical and Western ballet. Following the tradition of Indian classical, the first segment was a Swasti Vandana, performed in Odissi to invoke the blessings of gods. This was followed by a splendid fusion of Odissi and Western ballet by Reela Hota and Bogdan Canila.

They performed on the mantras and left everybody wondering as to how they choreographed a synchronised piece in two completely different dance forms. “The credit for this goes to Bogdan,” said Reela who rehearsed her part and sent its video to the Ballet artist, who then observed and choreographed his part. “We barely got two days to practice together,” added Bogdan.

However, it was difficult to make that out in the performance since all the dancers, especially ballet artists seemed to flow with moves and had absolutely clean lifts. Plus, their foot movements, especially pirouettes were stupendous and drew loud applause from the audience.

When Bogdan Canila, Andra Lonete and Cristina Dijmaru came together for a piece depicting the magnificence of nature - it included everything - from the flowers to the stars. The earth and sky are two elements, which sustain the balance of any human being. Thus, the sky was represented by Cristina Dijmaru in blue and the earth was represented by Andra in yellow. Both dancers were extraordinary but Cristina’s swirls beat everybody else.  

There were also solo Odissi dance pieces presented by Reela along with Sudarshan Sahoo, Sachikanta Pradhan, Santosh Kumar, Lipsa Dash, Banita Pradhan and Harshini Dhar. Their portrayal of an abhinaya, presented the effects of some commonly used Sanskrit words on the human body. Since Sanskrit is known as ‘dhwanisharira’ or the body of sound, chakra or energycenters of the body that control all its functions contain their own sounds called ‘bija mantras’. When a bija mantra is uttered, its resonance is felt in the corresponding chakra and stimulates it into action. This was narrated by the dancers through their performance.

The concluding piece saw a confluence of Odissi and Western Ballet once again as all the dancers came together to present Moksha, depicting the joy and ecstacy of the final stage of human evolution.