Those Who Can, Dance

THOSE WHO CAN, DANCE

‘Those who can, Dance’ is the city’s latest Odissi delight produced and presented by Sutra Foundation and staged at Amphi Sutra, Titiwangsa.

The show casted by the young dancers of Sutra’s OutReach programme was another milestone for the ambitious programme began by Sutra in 2014.

The show started with Mangalacharam Dasabaktra potraying the terrific form of Goddess Mahakali.

The all girl dancers brought to live the goddess’ splendid appearance and attributes with bodily expressions (abhinaya) and facial expressions (bhava).

Following this was the Odiya Abinaya recital, Mohana Deli Chahi  based on an interpretation of a song by Banamali, a medieval bhakti poet of Odisha.

This item describes Radha’s first encounter with Lord Krishna. The passion and pure love mood towards Krishna was well potrayed by the young dancers.

The third sequel was ‘Sthai’ with a pure dance woven around musical syallables of “tham thei thakiti taka tha hum tha hatta thei”.

This ‘Sthai’ dance sequences depicts sculptural poses found in Indian temple architecture. The dancers elegantly emulated the cultural feel and mood of the sculptures.

After the break came Kadamba Bane Bangi, a composition of  Guru Gajendra Kumar Panda depicting Radha’s restless wait for her divine lover, Krishna.

The young dancers fully immersed themselves in the mood of prema bhakti exuded by the song.

The evening ended with a dance composition by Guru Durga Charan Ranbir. In this 21-minute Aditya Archana item the dancers offered their salutation to Surya, the Sun God.

The dancers’ lithe bodies were literally moulded into the forms, shapes and gestures of Odissi postures to emit the intense energy of Lord Suria.

The supportive audience loved every moment of the dancers’ recitals which their guru and Sutra artistic director, Datuk Ramli Ibrahim had allowed the young dancers to introduce and narrate themselves.

The performance was greatly enhanced by the creative lighting work of Sivarajah Nadarajah.

This dancers who are students of SJKT Kajang and SJKT Ladang Sg Choh aged from 11 to 16 years represent a new life line for Odissi dancing in the Malaysian arts scene.

It also fulfills Sutra’s ambition to continuously pass on the art form to future generations.