MALLIKA SARABHAI'S  GROUP IN GREECE


Back to Home Page

DARPANA PERFORMING GROUP GIVES BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE IN ATHENS

Mallika Sarabhai’s Darpana Performing Group presented a scintillating fast-paced programme entitled “India then, now and forever, to a spell-bound audience at the historic 4600 seat ancient Herodus Atticus Theatre in Athens on 3 and 4 September 2006. The audience included such dignitaries as the President of the Greek Parliament Prof. Anna Benaki-Psarouda, Ambassadors of several countries, and a group of 350 young Greek students attending a course at the Greek Parliament.

The programme was unique in that it presented the diverse facets of dance in India, ranging from Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak and classical traditions to the tribal, folk and contemporary dances. It took the spectator as promised, on an exciting journey through India, in time as well as through its rich cultural diversity.

The two-hour long presentation, was a brilliant display of varied dances, music, lighting and costumes wide-ranging and daring in its thematic coverage. The 29 member group performed with great precision, taking the audience on an enchanting journey through the space and time of Indian dance.


PROGRAMME ITEMS : - “INDIA - THEN, NOW, FOREVER”


Long ago in India, even before the Vedic culture, there were people whose dances and songs spread over the earth. These communities, often called the autochthonous peoples, found their own voices which resounded in many parts of the globe.

1. RATHWA
Tribals celebrating their rites with dance and song.

2.NAVASANDHI with ANANDAKUTHADINAR
A dance presentation of the discovery of fire, a great moment in the story of civilization. It was the first verse of the Vedas, the Rig, that praised fire as God. 'O Agni, illuminator of darkness, day by day we approach you with our homage. From fire, dancers look to the nine cardinal directions of the universe for protection. From the understanding of these and from focusing on the energies of the earth they became resilient and responsive, turning their minds towards the powers of the Supreme. Soon however, Siva became the predominant deity in Bharata Natyam.

3. CHAU
From the epic Mahabharata, farmers in India's east, where farmers play out in dance, the battle between the Kauravas and the child Abhimanyu with unparalleled vigour.

4. KUCHUPUDI
Classical dance of Kuchipudi in three segments, dedicated to Ganesha, Kartikkeya, and Devi, with a tracing of figures by the feet during the dance, performed with great skill and grace by Mallika Sarabhai.

5. MOHINIATTAM
The dance form form Kerala. Mohini the beautiful celestial being enticed the Gods to help human beings, and the style she danced became the lilting Mohiniattam, with white and gold of the costumes.

6.LAIHAROBA
Dance from the North East, the Lai Haroba became a dance performed by hundreds of couples on emerald slopes, celebrating Krishna and his celestial dance with milkmaids.

7.KATHAK
Kathak developed during the 16th and 17th centuries. With the influence of the courts of Persia, music and dance of an entirely different kind flourished in these courts. For the first time, a dance form was introduced to please the men of the court rather than the gods and goddesses above.

8. DRUMS
Musicians too were migrating from royal court to royal court as patronage changed and new sounds began to be heard.

9.GHUMAR (Jeevantal)
Folk dance from the desert state of Rajasthan rural cultures combined with the princely. Valour, chivalrousness and bravery combined with colour to create a riot for the senses.

10. OPPANA
Dance of the Muslims of Kerala, with dance forbidden by Islam, marriages were still celebrated with fun and reverence but men and women separated in different homes.

11. THALI & SHIVAJI PARENVA
Dance of the Bhils, one of India’s most ancient people showing their goddess worship.

12.CELEBRATION
Contemporary dance reflectign the search of dancers, musicians and artists for their own ideas, sometimes imbibing their roots, sometimes rejecting them and sometimes
juxtaposing the ancient with the modern.

13. KAIKOTTIKALI (Jeevantal)
Traditional dance worked upon by the practitioners of the arts and ancient rituals taking on a new life.

14. MARKING THE SPACE
Presentation and choreography drawing on the south Indian Martial arts form kalaripayattu, thought to be the mother of Kung Fu and Tai Chi, was interwoven as one such new vocabulary.

15. KAUN
Dance is used to question, to search for new answers, sometimes to age old questions. What is the purpose of life? How can we see truth if we wear so many masks? How can we dare to defy the norms of society? How can we not? What is freedom?

16. TIK TOK
A celebration of changes in time and life. The future becomes the present. And it is a future and a present to celebrate. And what better than dance to celebrate celebration.
 

“Medecins du Monde – Greek Delegation" in collaboration with the Embassy of India, Athens, is glad to organize, on September 3rd & 4th, 2006 at the Herodus Atticus Theater, Athens, the unique performance -
"India: Then, Now, Forever"



A fast and exciting journey through the history of Indian dance - folk, tribal, classical, ritual and contemporary, and its parallels with the country's history and telescoping of time in today's world.

With the famous Indian dancer, choreographer and theater maker, MALLIKA SARABHAI & THE DARPANA PERFORMING GROUP

"Medecins du Monde Hellas" is organizing these two performances to raise funds to help the children of the Darfur area of Sudan who are suffering since 2003 from starvation and civil war.

  
Darpana Performing Group

From a small dance academy that was founded over five decades ago, today Darpana is a workshop for the arts where tradition meets technology to break down boundaries of art and life, and where performers from the world over work together to open mindscapes through the arts. Established by Mrinalini and Vikram Sarabhai in 1949, for the last two decades the academy has been directed by their daughter Mallika Sarabhai. Today it has a permanent staff of over 60 people and several hundred others on projects. Its departments range from performance and teaching of the arts to their use as development communication through face to face impacting and software production. Its audiences range from arts lovers to district and supreme court judges, the less privileged across the world, children, women, tribal populations and more. With over 25000 graduates, nearly 10000 performances, audiences in 90 countries and a vibrant arts environment, Darpana today is a centre for artists committed to excellence, innovation and the excitement of using the arts for change. Darpana’s vision is a contemporary symbiosis affirming the role of creativity in culture, researching into our origins and reaching out to the unsaid or unthought of, with a language that is universal.

Mallika Sarabhai (M.BA, Ph.D)


Mallika Sarabhai is a performer and creator of many talents. Her career has developed from being a young, internationally acclaimed, classical dancer and film personality, to being an activist and commentator on social issues.
Now an established artist she celebrates positive reaffirmation of images of womanhood through dance, theatre and writing. Following the rich and inspiring model of her mother Mrinalini, Mallika has placed herself firmly at the cutting edge of Indian dance and dance theatre.
In a culture which favours conservatism she wields the vocabularies of Indian traditions as trenchant tools to sculpt new reactions in her audiences. As dancer, actress, choreographer, writer, or instigator of community projects she challenges audiences to sit up and think, realign themselves to questions of ecology, women’s place in society, gender awareness, cultural atrophy, the very place of the arts in our society.
Deeply rooted in Indian cultures, but open to the influences of her collaborations around the world she has synthesized her experiences to become one of the most exciting creative influences in India today. Dynamic, charming and dry-witted, she is a rare creature in the arts.

The Dancer
At the root of Mallika’s performance is her expertise and deep knowledge of two forms of Indian classical dance, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh respectively. As a young woman she won international awards for her classical dance, and she is still learning items from her gurus, some of which she alone in the world can perform.
Even in these forms she has rejected items which she feels stem from overtly patriarchal periods and which represent women as subservient, and has put together pieces celebrating the strength of the goddesses of the Hindu pantheon.
This is still the main element of her performance life, whether at international festivals or local cultural events, and the warmth and life with which she imbues these forms keeps her much in demand.
 

 

 

 

 

Οι «Γιατροί του Κόσμου» για τα παιδιά θύματα του Darfour

Αγαπητοί μας φίλοι,
Έχουμε τη χαρά να σας ανακοινώσουμε, ότι οι «Γιατροί του Κόσμου – Ελληνική Αντιπροσωπεία», με τη συνεργασία της Ινδικής Πρεσβείας στη Ελλάδα, οργανώνουν στις 3 και 4 Σεπτεμβρίου 2006. στο Ωδείο Ηρώδου Αττικού, ένα

ΧΟΡΕΥΤΙΚΟ ΥΠΕΡΘΕΑΜΑ ΙΝΔΙΚΟΥ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, ΙΝΔΙΑ 5000 ΧΡΟΝΙΑ

Με τίτλο
“INDIA: THEN, NOW, FOREVER” “ΙΝΔΙΑ: ΤΟΤΕ, ΤΩΡΑ, ΓΙΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ”



Με την διάσημη καλλιτέχνιδα του ινδικού χορού, MALLIKA SARABHAI
& THE DARPANA PERFORMING GROUP

Τα έσοδα των δύο παραστάσεων θα διατεθούν για τα προγράμματα της οργάνωσης «Γιατροί του Κόσμου», αφιερωμένα στα παιδιά του Σουδάν, θύματα των διωγμών στη περιοχή του Darfour.
Είναι μία εντυπωσιακή παράσταση που συνδυάζει όλους τους τύπους Ινδικού χορού προσφέροντας ένα πολύχρωμο και γρήγορο θέαμα 5.000 ετών Ινδικού Πολιτισμού.
 

«ΙΝΔΙΑ: ΑΛΛΟΤΕ, ΤΩΡΑ, ΓΙΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ»

Πρόκειται για ένα συναρπαστικό ταξίδι 5000 ετών Ινδικού Πολιτισμού μέσω της ιστορίας του Ινδικού χορού από την αρχαιότητα μέχρι το σύγχρονο κόσμο.

Η παράσταση παρουσιάζει τους διαφορετικούς τύπους χορού που συνυπάρχουν και δημιουργήθηκαν σε διάφορα μέρη της Ινδίας, συχνά ταυτόχρονα, χωρίς όμως να γνωρίζει το ένα την ύπαρξη του άλλου μέσα στα 5000 έτη ιστορίας του. Ταξιδεύει το κοινό μέσα στο χρόνο και το χώρο με παραδοσιακούς χορούς, με εορτασμούς των διαφόρων φυλών της Ινδίας, και ζωντανεύει μπροστά μας την ιστορία της Ινδίας

Η μουσικοχορευτική αυτή παράσταση δημιουργήθηκε το Μάιο του 2005 και συνοδεύεται από έναν συνδυασμό ζωντανής και ηχογραφημένης μουσικής. Όλοι οι κλασικοί και παραδοσιακοί χοροί θα συνοδεύονται από ζωντανή μουσική, ενώ οι σύγχρονοι από ηχογραφήσεις που έχουν γίνει από σύγχρονους Ινδούς μουσικούς.

Σε μία ειδικά σχεδιασμένη παράσταση για το Ωδείο Ηρώδου Αττικού, παρεμβάλλεται αφήγηση με τα γεγονότα σταθμούς της Ιστορίας και Πολιτισμού της Ινδίας. Τα πολύχρωμα κοστούμια και οι παραδοσιακές φορεσιές της Ινδίας σε συνδυασμό με τον ειδικό φωτισμό και τις μοναδικές χορογραφίες συνθέτουν ένα πολυθέαμα χαρακτηριστικό του Ινδικού Πολιτισμού που θα αφήσει αξέχαστες εντυπώσεις.

Υπεύθυνη μετάκλησης και οργάνωσης:
ΜΑΡΙΑ ΦΡΕΖΑΔΟΥ Κ ΣΙΑ Ε.Ε.,FORUM INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS,
Τηλ 210-600 40 51, 210-60 15 770, 210 600 81 65, FAX: 210-6017650, e-mail : info@fic.gr www.fic.gr
Για επικοινωνία / περισσότερες πληροφορίες.

Darpana Performing Group
Είναι ο πυρήνας της Darpana Academy. Απαρτίζεται από καλλιτέχνες υψηλών προδιαγραφών όχι μόνο στο χορό ή τη μουσική, αλλά και στο θέατρο, τις πολεμικές τέχνες και κάθε άλλη μορφή έκφρασης που σχετίζεται με πειθαρχία και τη χρησιμοποίηση πολλών «γλωσσών». Οι καλλιτέχνες που απαρτίζουν το Darpana Performing Group, εξασκούνται και εργάζονται κάθε μέρα μαζί ενώ παίζουν είτε μαζί είτε μεμονωμένα. Οι παραστάσεις ποικίλουν από κλασικό και σύγχρονο χορό έως μουσικό θέατρο, παραδοσιακό θέατρο και «μαριονεττίστικο» θέατρο, σε ένα ευρύ και ποικίλο ρεπερτόριο. Συνθέτες, χορογράφοι, και άλλοι καλλιτέχνες συχνά συνεργάζονται στις παραγωγές ως guest stars.
Το Darpana έχει δώσει παραστάσεις στα μεγαλύτερα θέατρα όλου του κόσμου.

Mallika Sarabhai (M.BA, Ph.D)
Είναι μία πολυτάλαντη καλλιτέχνις και δημιουργός. Η καριέρα της εξελίσσεται συνεχώς, από νεαρή, κλασσική χορεύτρια και κινηματογραφική προσωπικότητα, σε μία ακτιβίστρια και σχολιαστή των κοινωνικών θεμάτων που μέσω του χορού προσπαθεί να επαναπροσδιορίσει τη γυναικεία φύση και ολοκλήρωση. Χορεύτρια, ηθοποιός, χορογράφος, συγγραφέας, υποκινητής κοινοτικών προγραμμάτων, προκαλεί το κοινό όχι απλά να παρακολουθήσει αλλά να προβληματιστεί με θέματα οικολογίας, με τον ρόλο της γυναίκας, και τη θέση που έχει η τέχνη στη σύγχρονη κοινωνία μας.
 

 

 
 

 

Darpana Performing Group     

10/22/2009