Buddhist Jatakmala and Panchatantra evoke the contemporary spirit in dance

Orissa Diary, June 11, 2012

Bhubaneswar, India -- The Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy organised a 3-day long contemporary dance festival at Bhubaneswar with colour and grandeur. Being organised for the first time this festival awakened curosity and excitement among the art connoisseur of the city who thronged to see something of different taste both in terms of dance as well as presentation.

The first presentation of the evening was Hansha Balaka, skillfully displaying the various gaits and movements of Swain followed by acrobatic gestures entiled Street Dance Ragavali depicting the nationalist element through the colourful display of Indian national flag with Ashoka Chakra choreographed by his illustrious father Narendra Sharma sensitized the patriotic spirit of the audiences. It is punctuated with movement with imagined charecterstics of each colour and the centrality of chakra in the flag's formulation.

This is followed by Jatakmala i.e. tales of Buddhist expound on wisdom and vagaries of life through a series of naratives. These tales emanated issues of times i.e. ecology, human releations, wisdom stories and historical record of its time. Choreographed by Bharat Sharma this episode depicts images of animal world, power, conflicts, enviornment, relationship, dreams and abstract concepts using props, colour schema and different designs through gestures and movements.

The second item of the evening was by Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant a noted danseuse and choreographer who chose to present with five interesting episodes from the popular compedium "Panchatantra" using the grammer and idiom of classical dance. She effortlessly bridges traditional strcutures with contemporary inputs.

Her group performance on Panchatantra sends message of friendship, bravery, leadership  and freedom through parable and allegory of popular tales of Panchatantra showcasing the stories of monkey and crocodile, lion and rabit, swain and tortoise, monkey. Laced with humour and satire, elegantly blend of tradition with contemporary and beautifully combined with a rich movement of vocabulary and grammer the production of Padamshree Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant took the audience to a different world of kaleiodoscopic designs of colour rhythm and imagery.

Both Bharat Sharam and Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant enthralled the art lovers of the city by their superb choreographic presentation of music, dance and rhythm synchronized with proper costumes, props and light effects.

Read More @ Source

The Habits of Happiness- Matthieu Ricard at TED.com Part 2/2

Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard talks about happiness the conditions it requires, at what it really means. He shows some wonderful images of Tibet and the Himalayas as well. An inspiring speech and a good introduction into some of the core philosophies of Buddhist. Go to ted.com for more movies of some of the worlds finest speakers and thinkers.

Video Rating: 4 / 5



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From the May 2012 magazine: Sister Chan Khong’s path of peace

Image
Photo: Florence Delahaye Sister Chan Khong is best known as Thich Nhat Hanh's closest collaborator, but she's also a dedicated activist and gifted teacher in her own right. Andrea Miller profiled her in the May 2012 Shambhala Sun magazine, and the entire piece is now online here .  "People think that engaged Buddhism is only social work, only stopping the war," Chan Khong says. "But, in fact, at the same time you stop the war outside, you have to stop the war inside yourself." Over her lifetime, Sister Chan Khong has learned the importance of not making peace, but rather being peace, being understanding, being love—and to embody this way of being twenty four hours a day. The key, she tells the Shambhala Sun, is to practice mindfulness. "When your body and mind are not one, you do not see deeply," she says. Read the rest of "Path of Peace: The Life and Teachings of Sister Chan Khong" here . And browse our entire May 2012 issue o...
Keep reading

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Concludes Teachings to Taiwanese Devotees

Image
Homepage » News » His Holiness the Dalai Lama Concludes Teachings to Taiwanese Devotees » October 5th 2012 Dharamsala, India, 4 October 2012 (Samuel Ivor, The Tibet Post International) - Concluding His teachings on Atisha's "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment" given at the request Taiwanese disciples, His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet culminated the fourth day (October 4th 2012) with a series of vows, blessings and future guidance to the gathering of devotees. The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, by Atisha Dipam karashrijnana (982-1054), was further examined and translated by one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time. Drawing upon the central and final verses of the text, His Holiness cross-examined and explained key points during the teaching, which was held in the main temple in Dharamshala, India. During the teaching, the Dalai Lama re-iterated that the cultivation of Bodhisattva (enlightened existence) should be done gradually, over ti...
Keep reading

Gender discrimination in religious practice

Image
By Samten Yeshi and Gyalsten K Dorji, Kuensel Online, May 21, 2012 Timphu, Bhutan -- Gender inequality took over to blend with spirituality in the second session of the Mountain Echoes festival, which began yesterday at the Tarayana Centre in Thimphu. << Writing the spirit: Swati Chopra, Kunzang Choden and Dr Tashi Zangmo Three women speakers constantly argued and discussed that women have equal spirit to attain the level of spirituality as men, while they referred to religious traditions that underestimated the spirits of women. The conversation revolved around Buddhist traditions where, at one point, Swati Chopra, who writes on spirituality and its relevance to modern lives, explained the Madhyamika ideology and the middle path teaching, associated with change and impermanence. According to her, the irrational system that became a tradition blocks change, where women are deprived from certain spiritual teachings, even in Buddhist. "Change has...
Keep reading