“Kshetram” or “temple” is a thematic portrayal of the heritage of legendary temple cities of India, weaving together ancient poetry, classical music and dance.
This dance production is the brainchild of Lakshmi Sanjay and Sanjay Subramaniam, co-founders and artistic directors of Abhinay Fine Arts, a local non-profit organization that strives to bring classical Indian dance and music performances to the greater Seattle audience.
Local dancers, Bhavana Kudikala, Lakshmi Sanjay, Preetha Anandh, Smitha Krishnan, and Supriya Unnikrishnan, have come together to create this production. It is unique in that, the dancers have incorporated the three different and distinct Indian classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Mohiniattam, to create a lyrical and visually appealing performance.
Ancient tamil poetry from India called “divya prabandams” or “paasurams” form the basis of the production, and it is the connecting thread through the different acts. The “prabandams” were written by the Alvars or poet saints in 8th century AD and describe the Hindu god, Lord Vishnu. They sang in praise of His many forms in temples across India. This production describes the mythology behind 5 of these temples and how they came to exist. The dancers, along with an accomplished music director, have used old songs, composed new ones, and added poetry from the relevant “pasurams” to create a comprehensive history and bring to light little known stories and facts about these temples.
The dancers come together with their different dance forms throughout the production, and also showcase their individual styles while narrating the stories of each temple.
“Kshetram” debuts on Sunday, Sept 25th at The Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. The show will begin at 3:30p.m.
This program is jointly presented by Vedic Education and Development Academy (VEDA) in Redmond and Abhinay Fine Arts.
Date/Time: Sunday, September 25th, 2011 at 3.30pm
Venue: Theater at Meydenbauer, Bellevue, WA (free parking for patrons)
Price: Donor tickets $100 & $50; Regular tickets $20
Tickets: www.sulekha.com
Contact:
For more information, please visit:
Abhinay Fine Arts: www.abhinayfinearts.org
VEDA: http://www.vedatemple.org/
The Meydenbauer Center: http://www.meydenbauer.com/