Experience
The beginning of Ragamala: Sacred Earth literally moved at a very slow pace with soft, meditative music to accompany the first ritual. It was difficult for some of the audience members (by the looks of it), including myself, to stay focused on the course of the show because it seemed as if the six Indian dancers were repeating some of their delicate movements at times causing a bit of the rest of the event to drag. Nonetheless, the foreign hymns became more intense and would crescendo making the choreographers dance more rapidly to the beats toward the end. Overall, the entire performance was mesmerizing with its symbolic projected illustrations in the background and sparkly pulchritudinous women parading to the peculiar atmospheric musical arrangement and their sublime beliefs. Ragamala: Sacred Earth was unlike anything I had seen before in my life.
Expectations
It is important to explore the interconnection between human emotions and the environment that shapes them at some point in your life. Sacred Earth does that on stage by combining movement, artistic visuals, and live music to create magic in their own Indian spiritual dancing way. Though it may seem unusual to most people how these performers express themselves through evanescent traditional choreography, this ancient art is actually very beautiful (physically with colorful native clothing and stylish exotic jewelry/piercings, and emotionally with introspective thought meditations and blissful body gestures). Having this wondrous knowledge, this divergent show will embrace human physiques revealing a unique communication with earth’s nature and exposing graceful correlations to life which we often overlook and fail to acknowledge in our existence nowadays.
Experience
[Adriana is the proud mother of a new baby boy, born just this week. Her blog is being written by one of her friends, Erin Graybill.]
What if books of nature were penned by poets, the words delivered off the pages by statuesque dancers with henna-ed hands and jingling feet? What if time was measured by chalk and flower petals, arranged thusly, and accompanied by the rhythms and croonings of an ancient chorus? This is the vibrant world of Ragamala.
As the first dashes of pixie dust puffed from the hands of the performers, my daughter and I were absolutely enchanted. The story the artists told of the marriage of earth and sky, the hopeful planting of a seed by the children of the earth, and the resulting harvest miracle, invoked all of the beauty and ebullient joy of being alive in the steady parade of time. It brought to mind the certainty that as the earth remains, the circle of seedtime and harvest will too, in an agrarian sense, to be certain. Metaphorically, the lifetime of a person has seedtimes and harvest, as well, and the potential to sow beauty and joy is our express and sacred privilege, until the dust settles over our dry bones.
As Ragamala's “Sacred Earth” gave center stage to the sacredness of that cycle, it gave me pause to consider. How could such a thing as the harvest cycle ever become mundane, common, taken for granted? Can an abruptly uttered (perhaps irreverent?) prayer before supping possibly be enough thanks for the One who set the elements in motion simply that I may dine and thus live? The narrative from the performance speaks of a love affair that perhaps has grown cold. They allude to the "unfathomable love of the man of the mountains", but one or the other in the relationship has grown cold, with kisses, once sweet, now salty. As a Christian, this challenged me. It was a reminder that my Creator is worthy of my highest affections, the earth He spun is a sacred place whereupon I walk with all reverence with Him, and the seasons of life are a holy experience.
Expectations
In anticipation of the upcoming performance, my 12-year-old daughter, who is a classical ballerina, viewed the Ragamala video with me on the UTB website. She and I were both struck by how very different classical Indian dance form is from the Western dance traditions. We read that the dance is inspired by the ancient temple sculptures. This was apparent in the curious breaks in the music when the dancer completely stops and assumes a yoga-like pose.
I suspect that experiencing the Ragamala performance will be much like a childhood fantasy whereupon we find ourselves wandering through a thoroughly modern (perhaps mundane?) museum exhibit. Drawn in by the bold colors of dress on the exotic sculptures, we are inclined to consider them more closely. And then - oh yes, we are sure of it - the eyes of the statue widen, and there is the twitch of a playful smile! Suddenly, the enchanted ancient statues come to life, and for a brief time, the rhythm of the earth accompanies them in a magical, and in some way, increasingly familiar dance of living. Like Colin, dubbed the young Rajah, in The Secret Garden proclaims, "I shall live forever!" The music tells you that it is true, and the dance is an attempt to uncover the source of the truth.
Experience
Ragamala: Sacred Earth was not the greatest finish to the UTB/TSC Arts Center season. The show was close to what I expected. There was Southern Indian and dance, wrapped into the interpretation of the Sacred Earth theme. The problem was that there was little understanding on what was to be interpreted from each part of the performance. Putting the entire performance together in one solid 75 minute uninterrupted stretch did give the impression of a different parts of the Earth, having breaks between sections with a few common themes in each part would have been ultimately easier to understand. I personally did not enjoy the music either, as the vocal style and constant tuned instrument running in the background the entire performance quickly began to distract from the rest of the performance. I had not previously enjoyed Indian music, and I think this performance only confirmed my expectations.
Expectations
I suspect that experiencing the Ragamala performance will be much like a childhood fantasy whereupon we find ourselves wandering through a thoroughly modern (perhaps mundane?) museum exhibit. Drawn in by the bold colors of dress on the exotic sculptures, we are inclined to consider them more closely. And then - oh yes, we are sure of it - the eyes of the statue widen, and there is the twitch of a playful smile! Suddenly, the enchanted ancient statues come to life, and for a brief time, the rhythm of the earth accompanies them in a magical, and in some way, increasingly familiar dance of living. Like Colin, dubbed the young Rajah, in The Secret Garden proclaims, "I shall live forever!" The music tells you that it is true, and the dance is an attempt to uncover the source of the truth.