On November 3 at Green Bay High School Performing Arts Centre
Venkat Raman
One of the foremost dancers of the Odissi format will perform in Auckland later in the year.
Madhavi Mudgal, known the world-over for her impeccable style and exquisite footwork, will present her dance concert on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at the Green Bay High School Performing Arts Centre, located at 161, Godley Road, Greenbay.
Called’ Arpan,’ (‘Divine Offering’), the programme is being brought to Australia and New Zealand by Dr Ghulla (Sam) Goraya, a famous Odissi Dancer based in Melbourne.
Prior to arriving in New Zealand, Madhavi Mudgal will perform in Adelaide on October 20 (at The Parks Recreation and Sports Centre, 46 Cowan Street, Angle Park) and in Melbourne on October 26 and 27, 2018 (at Southbank Theatre located at The Lawler).
About Madhavi Mudgal
A prime disciple of the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Madhavi Mudgal is credited
with bringing a greatly refined sensibility to her art form.
She has received repeated acclaim in major cities and dance festivals throughout the world, including the Edinburgh International Festival (UK), the Festival of India (USA), the Cervantino
Festival (Mexico), Festival de la Mer (Mauritius), Vienna Dance Festival (Austria), Festival of Indian Dance (South Africa), Festival of Indian Culture (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Days of Indian Culture (Hungary), Festival of Indian Arts (London), the Avignon and Montpellier Festivals (France), Pina Bausch’s Festival (Wuppertal and Berlin Festpiele, Germany), Theatre de la Ville (Paris), Lyon Biennale (France) and at festivals of dance in Spain, Morocco, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and the Indian Subcontinent.
About Dr Sam Goraya
A Melbourne based Odissi dancer who has many years of performance and production experience, Dr Sam Goraya produces powerful performances that invoke the latent energy that resides within the human system.
His works are confined to themes that are spiritually uplifting and possibly use consciousness concepts which are highly complex in nature and, at times, difficult to comprehend.
He always attempts to present these concepts with care and clarity, using Odissi as the medium of expression.
With four postgraduate (Masters’) degrees and PhD in Mathematics and Oceanography, his career is in the telecommunication industry.
About Odissi Dance
Odishi, also referred as ‘Orissi’ in older literature, is a major ancient Indian Classical dance that originated in the Hindu temples of Odisha – an Eastern Coastal State of India.
Odissi, in its history, was performed predominantly by women, and expressed religious stories and spiritual ideas, particularly of Vaishnavism (Lord Vishnu as Lord Jagannath).
Odissi performances have also expressed ideas of other traditions such as those related to Hindu Gods Shiva and Surya, as well as Hindu Goddess Shakti and her forms.
Modern Odissi is performed by children and adults, as solo or group performances.
Theatrical Foundations
The theoretical foundations of Odissi trace to the ancient Sanskrit text ‘Natya Shastra,’ its existence in antiquity evidenced by the dance poses in the sculptures of Odissi Hindu Temples and archaeological sites related to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The Odissi dance tradition declined during the Islamic rule era, and was suppressed under the British Rule, which was protested by Indians, followed by its revival, reconstruction and expansion since India gained independence on August 15, 1947.
Genre of Dance Drama
Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artistes and musicians play out a mythical story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set in ancient Sanskrit literature.
Odissi is learnt and performed as a composite of basic dance motif called ‘Bhangas,’ that conform to symmetric body bends, stance.
It involves the feet, midriff and hand and head as three sources of perfecting expression and audience engagement with geometric symmetry and rhythmic musical resonance.
An Odissi performance repertoire includes invocation, Nritta (pure dance), Nritya (expressive dance), Natya (dance drama) and Moksha (dance climax connoting freedom of the soul and spiritual release).
For more information and tickets for ‘Arpan’ in Auckland please contact Arvinder Vasudeva on 021-0756194, Shanti Ravi on 021-2946394 or Basant Madhur on (021-0357954).
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Picture of Madhavi Mudgal from Wikipedia
