UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Ragamala Dance Company, celebrating 23 years of a contemporary approach to the classical Bharatanatyam dance method of southern India, will present “Song of the Jasmine” at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22 in Eisenhower Auditorium.
“Song of the Jasmine,” a “soulful, imaginative and rhythmically contagious collaboration” according to one reviewer in The New York Times, features music by jazz composer and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. He and four other musicians on guitar, Indian lute, percussion and violin will perform the dance’s music on stage.
Ranne Ramaswamy and her daughter, Aparna, who serve as co-artistic directors, choreographers and principal dancers, have spent more than two decades creating ways to combine the Indian ethos with the Western aesthetic.
“Our aesthetic is to present the form of Bharatanatyam in its glory and complexity and without tampering with its technique, with its authenticity … but pushing the thematic boundaries,” said Aparna, who, along with her mother, was born in India and lives in Minneapolis. “We may look to ancient literary sources, but in a way that, thematically, comes together and resonates with us today as Indian-Americans, or with a general audience and in themes that everyone can connect to and understand.”
Bharatanatyam — from the Sanskrit "bha" (expression), "ra" (melody), "ta" (rhythm) and "natyam" (dance) — is one of the oldest methods of dance in the world and is meant to translate mythical tales to the masses. It weaves together theatrical elements such as facial expressions, hand gestures and deliberate movements in a performance-art language. Traditionally, it’s a solo dance, but the Ramaswamys’ choreography makes room for five dancers — including Ranee’s other daughter, Ashwini (also Ragamala’s marketing director).
“Song of the Jasmine” took inspiration from the writing of Tamil poet-saint Andal, known for her devotion to Lord Vishnu, widely regarded in Hindu culture as the supreme being. Andal’s works depict dreams of intense longing to become the bride and servant of Vishnu.
Previous Ragamala programs have featured blues music by Billie Holiday, operatic compositions and Japanese drums. With “Song of the Jasmine,” Ragamala enlisted the talents of Mahanthappa, known for his collaborations that fuse Western and Indian styles of music. His performance with the band Kinsman inspired the Ramaswamys to approach him about “Song of the Jasmine.”
“When I heard the music, and heard the emotion and the complexity and the arrangements of the instruments and instrumentation, I was really moved to try to work together,” Aparna said. “It really spoke to my sense of being an Indian-American. … The balance was very fluid. It was smooth in some ways. … It had the spirituality, it had that deep emotion, it had the improvisation, it had the complexity, but it really brought these two cultures together in a very deep way.”
See an excerpt of “Song of the Jasmine.”
To learn more about the presentation, and for ticketing information, visit Ragamala or call 814-863-0255.
Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or artists, takes place in Eisenhower one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders.
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