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Dance
Village Classical Indian dance simmers in Eugene when Nrityagram presents its performance of Sacred Space at 8 pm on March 22 in the Hult Center Silva Concert Hall
Delving into 2,000 years of Indian classical tradition, Nrityagram's Odissi dance is an art form that draws on religious ritual and stories, Indian classical music, and the human form as immortalized in ancient Hindu temple sculpture. Like other dance traditions, such as Kathakali from southwestern India, and Khatak from the north, Odissi has seen resurgence in popularity and understanding on the international stage. The Nrityagram Company hails from Bangalore, India. Nrityagram means "Dance Village," and treasured founder Protima Gauri created the company's residence in Southern India from the ground up. Nrityagram is a place where students embrace years-long devotion to dance training, religious tradition, yoga and Sanskrit, working to create devotional works that strive to be at once traditional and new. The dancers' strict, rigorous training underscores the magnitude of their effort: This isn't just a fun folkdance to pass the time. This is an embodied sacred communion. As an audience member, your immersion is for only one evening, but you can expect a similarly multidisciplinary, multi-sensory experience. A Nrityagram performance offers dance, live music and breathtaking costumes. (For those who want to delve deeper into gesture and symbolism, catch the lecture-demonstration at 7:30 pm on March 21 in Hult Center Studio One. $5 admission.) It takes a bold architect to attempt a bridge between the traditional and the contemporary. Success means a true conversation between ancient and modern, between traditional discipline and artistic freedom, between aesthetic vision and ritual devotion. Nrityagram choreographer Surupa Sen is regarded as one of the few choreographers who can pull it off. As The New Yorker's Joan Acocella writes: "Surupa Sen in Odissi; Rennie Harris in hip-hop; Eva Yerbabuena in flamenco. These are people who, without making any special claims to authenticity, are developing something new that still honors the spirit of the old."
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