India Week

On a scorcher of a day in July, New York’s Lincoln Center launched India Week, a cultural extravaganza celebrating the variety and vibrancy of Indian culture. The dizzying array of events includes musical ensembles, dance companies, comedy performers, films, literary readings, and opportunities to participate in the traditional Gujarati Garba folk dance, yoga and breathwork, as well as an open (silent) disco with music spun by talented South Asian DJs. Kicking off the festival was the Ragamala Dance Company performing “Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred” on the outdoor stage at Damrosch Park.

Performance

Ragamala Dance Company: “Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred”

Place

Lincoln Center, New York, NY, July 2024

Words

Karen Greenspan

Ragamala Dance Company's Aparna Ramaswamy in “Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred.” Photograph by Lawrence Sumulong

The Ragamala Dance Company, founded in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy and based in Minneapolis, is a celebrated woman-led, intergenerational, family-run dance organization. Rooted in the Bharatanatyam classical dance tradition from South India, Ragamala creates original, contemporary dance productions inspired from Hindu ancestry, mythology, and background. The program notes explain that “Avimukta” is a re-imagination of the company’s large-scale work “The Fires of Varanasi” that premiered in 2021. That work, which I saw, involved an exquisite set by Willy Cessa containing large pools of water and steps evocative of scenes of the sacred city of Varanasi where steps descend from the temples to the cremation pyres that line the Ganges River. In this river, devout Hindus seek purification and hope that their ashes will be poured to merge with its ever-flowing continuum.

In a conversation with Aparna Ramaswamy (one of the daughters in this mother-daughter team), who serves as the company’s executive artistic director as well as a choreographer, and principal dancer, she explained that the elaborate set made the work logistically complicated and expensive to tour. In creating this new, one-hour adaptation, she shared, “We wanted to be able to tour it beyond the communities that could afford to bring ‘Varanasi.’ We wanted to explore a more intimate version that focuses on this idea of life and death in Hindu thought that co-exists with the relationship between the seeker and the sacred.” Having seen both works, I would say this noble and practical aspiration has been accomplished.

Ashwini Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy in “Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred.” Photograph by Lawrence Sumulong

The recorded score begins with a chanted mantra to the drone of a harmonium, immediately signalling a landscape of spiritual devotion. Seven dancers walk ceremonially onto the stage─some carrying brass bowls, others press their palms together in anjali mudra. They fill the visual space with gestures of prayer and offering. The dancers’ silk saris in radiant hues of watermelon, purple, and gold with textured pleats and glittering adornments awaken the senses. Meanwhile, complexity and interest percolate as several dancers break into lively, assertive footwork, quick turns, and narrative hand gestures─all characteristic elements of the dance form. Others squat or kneel along the periphery enacting rituals of purification through water immersion in an ongoing motif. This calls to mind the deeply felt relationship to Mother Ganga (Ganges River,) referred to in the program notes as “the liquid essence of life, the celestial river cascading from heaven to nourish humanity.”

From this richly textured universe, narrative solos of dramatic and rhythmic detail emerge and dissolve. Ranee Ramaswamy’s knowing hands flow with liquid motion as she gestures an abhinaya (mimetic) solo of the mythological birth of the Ganges from her (Lord Shiva’s) tresses. In an instant, she transitions to the role of the seeker, and with skillful detail, applies sandalwood paste to her divine lord’s body. Ashwini Ramaswamy, the youngest founding Ragamala member and choreographic associate, sparkles with her crisp footwork and fluttering hands in a solo evoking the flute-playing Lord Krishna.

Ragamala Dance Company's “Avimukta: Where the Seeker Meets the Sacred.” Photograph by Lawrence Sumulong

Throughout the piece, two shirtless male dancers clad in simple, beige, cotton garments of spiritual pilgrims, move through a slow-motion, meditative sequence of yogic poses and mimed action of boat rowing and ritual immersion. Maintaining a distinct thread of inner journey, they provide a contrast to the life-affirming rhythms danced by those in brilliant colors.

Aparna Ramaswamy’s final solo, an homage to Shiva─the reigning deity of Varanasi and cosmic dancer of creation, preservation, destruction, illusion, and emancipation─began with the deity’s iconographic poses of conqueror and Nataraja (cosmic dancer). Then launching into high-energy leaps and electric footwork, the petite Ramaswamy generously projects her fiery power. This solo, choreographed by the family’s guru Padmabhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, is set to “Bho Shambho,” a rousing devotional song to Lord Shiva and should build to an ecstatic state. But the experience falls short. The choreography alternates between the descriptive verses (during which the dancer dances as the deity) and the devotional refrain (during which the dancer performs as the devotee). The tepid steps of the refrain do not vary or gather steam, so there is not the expected rapture.

In the final tableau, the ensemble’s actions shift to expressions of bowing and supplication. During this activity, one of the shirtless ascetics carries a large brass bowl filled with water. He places it on the floor downstage and kneels before it. With a sense of absorbed intention, he scoops up handfuls of water and repeatedly pours the hallowed substance over his head.

I asked Aparna Ramaswamy about this idea of “celebrating the inevitable dissolution of life” highlighted in the program notes. She reminded me:

The idea of life is a cycle─creation, destruction, regeneration. It is a natural process. Not only does each human life go through this cycle, but so does the whole world. This [dissolution] is what needs to happen for creation to take place. It’s a metaphysical idea. In Hindu thought, when one goes through this cycle, one starts to think about the next stage─reincarnation or transformation. It’s very much a part of who we are. It’s in our marrow. In some ways it’s very freeing, it expands our concept of time and place.

Karen Greenspan

Karen Greenspan is a New York City-based dance journalist and frequent contributor to Natural History Magazine, Dance Tabs, Ballet Review, and Tricycle among other publications. She is also the author of Footfalls from the Land of Happiness: A Journey into the Dances of Bhutan, published in 2019.

comments

Deepsikha Chatterjee July 22, 2024

Shirtless, or bare chested?
As you know, as a South Asian researcher and practitioner, in South Asia it is common for men to be bare chested. So I wonder if a reductive term like “shirtless” is a misinterpretation here.

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