Indian dance steps into spotlight

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July 30, 2003, 3:51PM

 

India classical dance steps into spotlight

By MOLLY GLENTZER

Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

 

A princess gives up her wealth for Lord Krishna in Meera, a classical

indian dance drama.

 

Cosmic harmony and the thousand-petaled lotus.

 

Churning the ocean of milk for the nectar of immortality.

 

The devotional songs of a 16th-century poetess saint.

 

It promises to be a heady weekend for fans of Indian classical dance,

with two productions making Houston stops on Saturday.

 

A troupe from the state of Karnataka offers the program Celestial

Dance Ballet, featuring two works about achieving higher states of

consciousness, at the University of Houston's Cullen Performance

Hall.

 

In addition, the Los Angeles-based Shakti Dance Company returns to

the Wortham Theater Center with the dance drama Meera, about a

princess who gives up her riches for Lord Krishna.

 

Rashme Hegde Gopi, one of India's cultural ambassadors, is the force

behind Celestial Dance Ballet. She is the founder of Shankara, a

cultural center in India devoted to preserving her country's

performing, visual and culinary arts.

 

DETAILS

Celestial Dance Ballet, by Rashme Hegde Gopi, will be presented at 7

p.m. Saturday at the University of Houston's Cullen Performance Hall,

Entrance 1 off Calhoun. Tickets are $15-$100, benefiting the

International Association for Human Values. Call 281-208-2787.

She has choreographed several large-scale ballets, among them Nupura

Kaveri, a massive work for 500 dancers, including tribal artists from

remote regions, that helped inaugurate the 1997 National Games.

 

Gopi's Sahasrara, the first half of Celestial Dance Ballet, is

inspired by yogic mysticism. Its title refers to the "thousand-

petaled lotus," or crown chakra.

 

Kundalini yogis believe the body has seven chakras, or energy

centers, that emanate through the spine. When one is able to stir the

Sahasrara, he has reached the blissful, superconscious state known as

samadhi. Gopi's dance depicts each chakra with a different dance

style and related colors.

 

The second dance, Amrita Manthanam, draws on a tale from Vedic

mythology. Featuring regional dance variations, it depicts a duel

between the divine and the demons as they churn the Ocean of Milk,

which symbolizes love and is said to hold the nectar of immortality.

 

Celestial Dance Ballet is presented as a benefit for the

International Association for Human Values, an organization that aids

communities in underdeveloped countries. Its nine-city U.S. tour also

stops in Austin on Sunday and Dallas on Aug. 9.

 

Meera is the Indian equivalent of a story ballet based on the chants

and dances of the 16th-century princess Meerabai. Her devotion to

Lord Krishna gets her expelled from the palace and leads her on

pilgrimages and finally back to Krishna's temple.

 

The ballet is by Shakti Dance Company director Viji Prakash, a UCLA

professor and one of the leading Bharatanatyam dancer /choreographers

in the United States. The Shakti dancers are frequent visitors to

Houston. The performance is presented by the Indo-American

Association.

 

Mythili Prakash (Viji's daughter) and Malaysian dancer Ajit Bhaskaran

Das lead the cast of 25. Meera's orchestra is led by pre-eminent

Indian songstress Lakshmi Shankar, who is especially renowned for her

moving renditions of Meerabai's bhajans, or devotional hymns.

 

Meera, by Viji Prakash, will be presented at 8 p.m. Saturday at the

Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. Tickets are $20-$50. Call 281-648-

0422, or visit www.iaahouston.com.