Dec 02, 2011
Kalaivani Dance & Music Academy presented a unique and sensational dance drama called "Sense Beyond" on Friday November 11, 2011 at the prestigious Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta. It was a visual feast embellished with colorful costumes representative of five most popular classical dance styles -- Kathak, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam, Mohiniattam and Odissi. Never before such an extravagant dance performance was presented by anyone.
Kalaivani is a dance academy with schools located in 3 areas in greater Atlanta area and is run by Padmaja Kelam and her son Siddharth. Their goal is to preserve Indian heritage which is not bound by region, language and culture.
"Sense Beyond" is a dream production of famous dancer Madurai R. Muralidhan. He not only composed the ballet, but also acted in the leading role of Yadav. He was accompanied by well known Kuchipudi dancer Uma Marali who played the role of Swapna Sundari. They both flew in from Chennai for this presentation and rehearsed tirelessly with the performers.
Besides these two artists, local dance teachers and directors of leading dance schools like Kumud Savla, Samta Savla, students of Sasikala Penumarthi, Padmaja Kelam, Siddharth Kelam and senior students from their respective schools participated to make this drama a huge success.
The story of Sense Beyond is very simple but inspiring. Yadav is a servant in the household of Yamini (played by Kumud Savla), a Kathak teacher in Varanasi. In spite of his 250 pounds, he dreams of becoming an ace dancer one day. His obsession with dance distracts him from his daily chores much to the displeasure of Yamini. Yamini's daughter-in-law (played by Samta Savla) agrees to teach Yadav basic dance that makes Yamini upset and accuses him of flirting. Yadav leaves his job and goes to Orissa. In this scene Kathak dances as well as dandia-raas were performed by Kumud Savla and her students in typical Kathak costumes.
While in Orissa, Yadav by chance meets Narmada whose daughter is bit by a snake and Yadav saves the child and she introduces him to a Odissi dance teacher. Yadav pleads with her to teach him dance. She is taken aback by Yadav's huge size but concedes to teach him anyhow. Mohindar, a relative of the Odissi Guru frames Yadav, out of jealousy, by placing diamond earrings of Guru's daughter in his shirt pocket. When earrings are found upon search, Yadav feels humiliated and leaves Orissa. In this scene typical Odissi dances were performed.
Yadav once again is on the move. His fate brings him to Kerala. One day while he was resting under a banyan tree, his sleep is disturbed by a group of dacoits stealing a precious statue of Krishna. He recovers the idol and returns it to its rightful owner who is the descendant of a royal family. The prince rewards Yadav and invites him to their mansion to witness the beautiful Mohiniattam dances. The dance soothes his senses and proceeds on his journey with renewed energy and confidence. Mohiniattam dances were performed by Bhavana Pradhyumna & Vasantha chivukula of KDAMA.
Yadav's travel lands him in Andhra Pradesh. Still determined to become a dancer, he meets by chance a beautiful Kuchipudi dancer named Swapna Sundari (played by Uma Murali). Swapna offers him shelter in her home and agrees to teach him Kuchipudi dance. Though Yadav is intensely involved in learning dance, his heart develops soft feelings for Swapna. He starts dreaming of her beauty and charm. One late afternoon, Yadav absent mindedly holds Swapna's wrist when she is teaching him the dance. Taken aback by Yadav's indiscriminate act, Swapna slaps him and insults him by making fun of his huge form. Deeply hurt and ashamed Yadav leaves Andhra Pradesh. All the dance sequence in this act were presented by Uma Murali and students of Sasikala Penumarthy.
Yadav now goes to Chidambaram in Tamilnadu and visits the famous Nataraja temple. He beseeches Lord Nataraja to show him the path to his salvation through dance. Soon he hears the sound of payal (anklets). He follows it and finds himself in the serene atmosphere of a dance school. He approaches the Guru (played by Padmaja Kelam) and tells her of his desire to learn Bharatnatyam. At first the Guru rejects Yadav by looking at his size, but soon Yadav's steadfastness touches her and she begins training him. The Guru advises Yadav to lose weight in order to become a good dancer. Yadav follows her advice and soon becomes one of the best students much to the displeasure of Nakul (played by Siddarth Kelam) the lead dancer in the academy. In this act Bharatnatyam dances were performed by students of KDAMA in eye-catching costumes and graceful movements.
Nakul looks on with contempt at Yadav's growing popularity with the Guru. But the Guru selects Yadav over Nakul to represent the dance academy for the International dance competition held by Kalaivani Dance Academy of Atlanta.
Nukul and Yadav become the two finalists. Nakul fears Yadav would win and decides to sabotage his chances by arranging an attack on Yadav just a day before the grand finale. But in this process, the Guru gets wounded and Yadav admonishes Nakul for his deplorable behavior. Yadav then tells Nakul that their Guru is more important than the competition, and they should respect her.
Leading Kathak dancer Kumud Savla and Bharata Natyam & Kuchipudi exponent Uma Murali are selected as the judges. The judges inaugurate the competition with their best performances of the evening. The tension is building up and both Yadav and Nakul are ready to show off their years' of training to best of their ability. The music is mood-setting; the movements are exhilarating and the stumping of their feet sounding like thunder. When their dance finishes one can see their hearts pounding and body sweating. It looked like a real-life dance competition and the audiences were glued to their chairs.
When the judges came on the stage to announce the winner, there was pin-drop silence and spectators were eager to hear the result. Yadav is declared the winner and Nakul is humbled. The substance of the story through wonderfully crafted and choreographed dance drama is that through hard work, dedication, commitment and focus all can achieve their goals. After all, in the silence of our hearts we know that we are proving ourselves worthy in a miracle called LIFE, which is truly called Sense Beyond.
It was a wonderful and unique presentation by Kalaivani and must have inspired a lot of admirers and students to continue their contribution and commitment to various Indian classical dances.
