Awakening of The Soul

   4/9/2012, Sohini Saha

  http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=8040

“Nrittero taley taley, Nataraj, ghuchao shokol bondho hey
Shupti bhangao chitte jagao mukto shurer chondo hey”

In Tagore’s words, ‘Oh lord Nataraja, the lord of dance,
with the beats of your energetic dance moves,
wipe away all meager thoughts from our mind,
remove all dormancy from our body,
and awaken our soul to the heartfelt divine melody.’

For centuries, Indian classical dance has been known to connect our souls to the divine. And this was what we all were reminded of on Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at Triveni Ensemble’s fund raising concert “Awakening of the Soul” at Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA.

The amalgamation of three Indian Classical dance forms, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi, in the true sense of the name “Triveni”, intertwined beautifully with the inspiring music of renowned Indian maestros made the evening an unforgettable one.

For more than three decades, Neena Gulati, the founder member and Guru of The Triveni Dance Ensemble has been instrumental in creating hundreds of fabulous dancers and has contributed to the society not only by keeping the Indian classical tradition alive in this farland, but also by helping organizations like Kerry Jon Walker fund, Saheli, Child Relief & u and many more through such fund raisers each year.

The show started with Ganapati Vandana, where the dancers invoked the blessings of Lord Ganesha, followed by Ras Shabdham, depicting the divine love of Radha and Krishna. Each dance kept its original essence intact, yet blossoming into fresh emotive gestures, giving it a renewed look. The fluid movements, the graceful postures and electrifying rhythm kept the awestruck audience glued to their seats. Some of the parents of Neena’s students, who were present at the show, later said, “I adored the costumes, the theme of awakening of the soul was wonderful.” - said Michelle Papazia . “We all enjoyed and cherished every moment of it and were in awe of the wonderful agility and grace of all the dancers. The music for all the dances was just so beautiful” – said Chetna Naimi. Catherine Walker, one of Neena’s friends and a former student complemented her by saying, “the theatre was made for you, with the seats around the stage like that, it was a so wonderful.”

The most interesting part of the show was not only witnessing the three dance forms performed separately on the same platform, in its purest forms, but also the attempt to experiment and creatively combine all the three forms together. In a fusion with contemporary music composed by the Tabla maestro, Shri Bikram Ghosh, all the three dance forms seamlessly blended together with intricate footwork, flowing movements and complex emotions of the talented danseuses. The creatively designed costumes added to the contemporary look and feel of the piece. The show also included beautifully choreographed movements aptly justifying Carnatic Vocal Maestro Sri Balamurali Krishnan’s lively rendition of Tillana. In the final piece, the dancers sought salvation through their Guru, who symbolizes the culmination of the three gods of the heavens: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, invoked by the sloka “Guru Brahma…”, as the blending of Indian and African rhythms transcended all cultural silos.

The memorable evening, left a global audience mesmerized and many souls awakened with the feeling of oneness with the creator and with each other.

Triveni School of Dance thrills Audience at Boston Public Library
  06/09/2011

 Neena Gulati from the Triveni School of Dance performed with five members of the Triveni ensemble on June 2 at the  Boston Public Library.

 About 100 enthusiastic attendees came out to see Mary Koperski, Claire-Marie Hefner, Kruti Advani, Vanya Mehta  and Rachel Ferullo perform five pieces in the Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi style, including a beautiful solo by Gulati to  a Mira bhajan. The dancers opened with the Tillana dedicated to the Goddess Durga. 

A Creative Confluence Of Cultures
 Manisha Jain
 04/16/2009
 http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=5658
 Dance and music are universal and just like love and laughter, have no boundaries. They have the power to unite people,  irrespective of caste, creed, or even nations.  Such was the celebration of the artistic confluence of two ancient lands, an  ocean apart but akin in spirit against the backdrop of history. On a magical Sunday evening, the Triveni Ensemble took  the stage along with the Cape Cod African Dance and Drum Co. at Hellenic College in Brookline, MA, presenting an  inspiring and soul-stirring collaboration that left its audience entirely mesmerized. The scintillating, completely sold-out  show emphasized the fact that the true meaning of culture is not in excluding, but rather encompassing other cultures,  creating “Talamallika – a Garland of Rhythms” as the performance was aptly titled.

 Neena Gulati, an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, artistic director, and teacher from New Delhi, India, founded the  Triveni School of Dance, in Brookline, MA in 1971. Triveni is a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and  performance of Indian Classical Dance, social awareness and the celebration of cultural diversity. The Triveni Ensemble  consists of Neena Gulati and her senior students. The company performs professionally throughout New England, and  has  been lauded for its deep-rooted classicism as well for its aesthetic experimentation and willingness to cross  boundaries.  On April 5, the beats of African drums mingled with mystic nuances of Indian classical dances in a sublime  concert,  partially funded by Massachusetts Cultural Council, benefiting Agape International, a local charitable initiative.  Agape was  founded in 2003 by Lynne Guhman, and strives to love and care for the poorest of poor suffering as a
 result  of the global  AIDS crisis.

 From the opening invocation to the closing celebration, the event showcased a journey infused with subtlety and  perfection. The program featured more than twenty-five dancers presenting three distinct classical dance styles from  India,  Bharatanatayam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi. Although each style is unique and has its own distinctive features, their  tapestry is  woven by two common elements of pure dance (nritta) and expressive or interpretative dance (nritya). Nritta  is the  expression of rhythmic movement primarily through use of the hands and feet in specific poses. Nritya uses  gestures and  facial expressions to show the poetic or emotional meaning while combining rhythmic gaits and postures.  Using these  classical dance forms as the starting point of exploration, the dancers created thought-provoking  choreography  interspersed with intricate rhythmic patterns. The show not only lifted one’s spirits, but also stirred up the  rhythmic pulses  deep within one’s soul.

 At the commencement, a reverential piece “Ganpati Vandana” invoking the blessings of the elephant headed Lord  Ganesha, in Kuchipudi style, set the invocative tone for an auspicious beginning. The other dances in the Kuchipudi  repertoire included a “Jatiswaram” and a “Tillana.” They were characterized by fast rhythms and fluid movements,  creating  a unique blend of control and abandon, strength and delicacy. A “Shabdam” in Bharatanatayam style  demanded the  nuanced skills of mime or abhinaya, interwoven with complex, cadenced footwork and hand gestures.  The “Battu” and  “Pallavi” in Odissi style were undoubtedly the epitome of fluid grace and possessed a lyrical quality that  was intensely  appealing. A highlight of the evening was a solo performance by “Neenaji” wherein she emoted and  danced to the  profound and philosophical poem “A Stream of Life” by Rabindranath Tagore. Neenaji possesses a  powerful command  of the stage. Along with her unquestionable command of technique, she has a delivery of intent that  is palpable. The power  of her abhinaya comes not just from her myriad facial expressions, but she also recruits the body  and its stances in  conveying emotions. It was not only a beautiful visual experience, but an inspired amalgamation of  poetry, philosophy, and  truth.

 The piece-de-resitence of the evening was the finale “Talamallika,” a spectacular culmination and a unique blend of the  complex rhythms of Indian Classical Dance, mellifluous vocals by Krithika Jeyaraman, and vibrant drumming by the  Cape  Cod Dance and Drum Company. The building crescendo to which three groups of dancers performed with �lan,  each  group highlighting its own style with aplomb, created a stunning visual impact, transporting the audience to a surreal  realm.  Lucky were those who immersed in the waves of such joy.

 Triveni’s selfless effort of lending a helping hand to the underprivileged, combined with pure aesthetic delight, left many
 in the audience misty-eyed. A stunned silence ensued as Kim Ogden of Agape International presented an extremely  moving  audio-visual footage depicting the crisis faced by AIDS orphans in India, and thanked Triveni for its noble  contribution  toward this cause. One sincerely hopes that this garland of rhythms woven on the part of Triveni dancers  emanates a  fragrance that touches the lives of these children forever.

 Connecting Cultures Through Divine Rhythms
 Arthi Devarajan
 04/27/2008
 http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=4852

 It is often said that art can transport you to another place and time.  A recent Boston dance performance did exactly,  that, providing its audience a very moving and transformative experience as it brought together the worlds of classical  Indian dance, international music, religion and spirituality, women’s lives, social outreach, and the intersection of  cultures.  

 On Sunday, April 13, 2008, the Triveni School of Dance in Brookline, Massachusetts, presented a showcase of  classical Indian dance items by Neena Gulati, Triveni’s founder and principal instructor, and her senior, 
 professional-caliber students.  The performance, titled “Divine Rhythms: The Joyful Spirituality of Indian Classical  Dance,” was sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and served as a benefit concert for Liz Walker  
 Journey  Productions, a local charitable initiative.  Founded by Boston-based broadcast journalist and ordained 
 minister  Rev. Liz  Walker, this organization is currently pursuing non-profit work in the Sudan, with the aim of building  a school  for girls in  Darfur.  

 The Triveni School of Dance is recognized widely for its detailed and rigorous instruction in three styles of classical  Indian dance: Odissi, Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi. Students presented intricate pieces in all three styles of dance,  with elaborate choreographies and stagings arranged specially for this program.  

 Some pieces presented this evening included “Pada Vande,” an Odissi piece offering praise to the Hindu lord of  beginnings, Ganesha, with devotional gestures and expression.  An item entitled “Shudh Nritta” featured vibrant nritta,  or pure dance sequences, replete with rhythm, sharp movements and fast-paced energy.  “Das Avatar” entailed lyrical  and narrative movements to regale the audience with tales of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, preserver of the  universe.  “Sandhi Nritya” provided the audience with a new and innovative glimpse at classical dance, as dancers  invoked the techniques of Odissi and Kuchipudi while set to contemporary Western music – the New Age rhythmic  stylings of the musical group “Enigma.”  The program concluded with a piece that once again entailed a fusion of  classical dance styles and non-traditional music.  Set to the Indian contemporary song “Mangalam” by Prem Joshua,  this finale piece went further in its scope to provide audiences with vignettes and symbols from three major world  religions: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. Dancers provided poses that reflected images of Hindu divinities; they  demonstrated elements of nature such as water, wind and the moon to represent Islam and the creation attributed to 
 the  Divine; and finally they depicted animals from Biblical myth, such as the serpent, the phoenix and the lion of God to  represent Christianity.

 Throughout the evening, each piece was presented to the audience with its own energy and attitude; the atmosphere of  the auditorium was dynamic, changing with each story and theme that would unfold on stage.  The audience was  captivated by the strong yet sensitive feminine energy of the Odissi pieces, the dramatic narratives and stylized gestures  of Kuchipudi, and the sharp execution and colorful energies of Bharata Natyam.  It was a joy to witness these features  of the dance styles as they came together in the fusion items, creating something new for the audience while retaining 
 the  integrity of each classical dance movement.   

 The program featured a short interlude wherein Rev. Liz Walker and her mentor, Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond,  presented a short talk about their work in Darfur, as well as a brief film clip which gave the audience a chance to see 
 the  community that would be benefited through this dance program.  Following this presentation came a special set of  dance pieces choreographed by Neena Gulati and two of her dedicated senior students, to provide an artistic link in the  evening between the images of Indian classical dance, and the compassionate outreach toward those in need in the  Sudan.   The item “Poetry and Dance” was presented in honor of Rev. Liz Walker, and Rev. Gloria White-Hammond,  two women who are heading the initiatives in the Sudan to build a girls’ school.  This piece set Kuchipudi movements 
 to  the soulful poem “A Glory from the God” by Rev. Dr. Cecelia Bryant, and the exhilarating Gospel song “We Are  Connected,” by the Berklee College of Music’s Gospel choir.  These pieces drew thunderous applause and smiles of  appreciation from its honorees, who commented emotionally about the touching gesture of using Indian cultural dance 
 to  reach out in support to another culture and people in Sudan.  Rev. Gloria White-Hammond also recognized the  students, mostly girls and young women, who comprise the Triveni School of Dance.  White-Hammond concluded her  remarks by requesting all dance students in the audience to stand up and be recognized for their inherent beauty, talent,  and value to society – an especially poignant moment in the evening, as literally dozens of girls stood.  This moment was  a testament to the hard work, dedication, and strong sense of community that is part of the Triveni School of Dance,  and their close relationship to their teacher Neena Gulati, known lovingly as “Neenaji”.

 Overall, the evening was successful in its goal, raising several thousand dollars to support the outreach initiatives in the  Sudan and better women’s lives.  But also worth noting is that the program proved to be a magical experience,  transporting its audience with each piece and providing a broader vision for the possibilities of classical dance – in the  multiple senses of artistic and creative inspiration, community outreach, and the chance to help others through dance
 and performance.  

 The show began late, as the auditorium filled slowly. An estimated 700 people were in attendance; up from the  pre-show  forecast of 200-300. The organizers, Saheli, stood by patiently as the great room became ever louder with  the murmured  sound of shared anticipation. Apparently word had spread of the unique combination of artistic talents to  be combined for  the next two hours. Together for the evening, a dancer and a poet; a cherished Brookline performer  and teacher of Indian  origin and training, and a silver-haired Midwesterner revered among serious writers for his earthy  wit and touching verse,  and among the masses as the father of a minor revolt in the contemporary study of gender. The  unpredictable outcome of  such artistic alchemy was clearly of interest to many.

 At last the house dimmed leaving three backing musicians in a white spotlight. A tabla, a flute, and a veena. Then,  preceded  by an appreciative and impressive introduction, the modest, stocking-footed Robert Bly padded across the  stage to join  the waiting musicians. Dropping himself in a stiff wooden chair, he asked that the house lights be raised so  that he might  see  the faces of the audience. It was the first of many gestures during the evening that would leave a  
 sense  of warm  inclusion  for those facing the stage.

 The first series of pieces were short and humorous translations of selected poems by Mirabai, Kabir, Rumi. On these,  Mr.  Bly was accompanied by the somewhat tentative tones of the musicians at his feet. Despite his cajoling, they  seemed  uneasily respectful of his speaking voice, playing softly and slowly. The arching gestures of his arms, swinging 
 a  beat, and  hovering for dramatic emphasis, gradually formed a kind of self-accompaniment, a sitting dance that recast
 the  ancient  poems into a kind of jazzed-up offering of wisdom and poignancy. The audience listened, swayed, laughed  and  roared.

 Next came the dancer. Stunningly wrapped in a golden sari, Nina Gulati seized the stage for a piece that recounted in 
 its  accompanying narration the words of an eleven-year-old girl. A poem Silenced by Anasuya Sengupta declaring her  wish  for freedom for many women in many countries who are silenced as a result of their cultural expectations. The  sequences  of movement were at times melodious, filling the stage, and at others abrupt, demanding, and quick; 
 signaling  the full arc of  freedom, and freedom constrained. This piece was a touching opening gesture to the many  women who  have been and  will emboldened by the outreach programs offered by Saheli.

 As the evening progressed, the two performers shared the stage on several pieces, each one distinctly different. A  brilliant  virtuoso work of a contemporary composition in Pallavi form. The dancers footwork converse with the singer 
 in  a  rhythmic  beat. Then came Moksha, a dance in which the dancers seek transcendence through the lyrical  abstraction  of  movements  and sculpturesque poses. Kalyani Nartana, the dance of Krishna on the head of the serpent  Kaliya,  concluded the first half  of the show.

 After the intermission the poetry and dance collaboration came to its peak with a dramatic finale in Kuchipudi style  introducing rhythm and movement. In the end they came together, the poet and the dancer, old friends. Robert Bly, slow  and stiff, and Nina Gulati, silent. They bowed and hugged, graciously accepting the appreciation of the audience and  flowers of their sponsors. As the applause softened they humbly left the stage in opposite directions. A magic meeting of  muses was complete.