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Devi:
The Mother Goddess
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Page 16 March 5,1999 INDIA in NEW YORK
Dance drama by Sarabhai set for N.Y.C. and D.C.
By Jyotirmoy Datta
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Internationally acclaimed dancer Mallika Sarabhai is scheduled
to perform her drama, "Devi: The Mother Goddess," at the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, 1 Bowling
Green, Manhattan, on March 29 and 30. The performances are co-presented
by the Indo-American Arts Council and the Battery Dance Company
in cooperation with the Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur
M. Sackler Gallery in Washington.. The sponsors are India Abroad,
founding sponsor of the Indo-American Arts Coundl; the State Bank
of India and the Lexington Hotel.
Sarabhai has created the work for the opening of an exhibition,
"Devi: The Great Goddess," at the Sadder on March 28. The exhibition,
which remains on view through Sept. 6, features 120 works, primarily
from India, with examples also from Nepal, China and Pakistan.
In "Devi: The Mother Goddess," Sarabhai explores the perception
of the goddess through classical dance, theater, story telling
and mime. She juxtaposes some traditional pieces from the repertoire
of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi with contemporary interpretations
of the goddess, using her own writing and that of other modem
writers.
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The Mother Goddess has a central role in Hindu mythology
and belief. In a philosophy that accepts the primary being as "Ardhanarishwara,"
half-female and half-male, Devi or Shakti is the primal kinetic energy
without whom the male remains passive and immobile. Sarabhai, who has
been the lead soloist since 1977 at the Darpana Academy of Performing
Arts in Ahmedabad, specializes in Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi. She
is also a contemporary dancer with the Darpana Company, the Pan Project
in London; the Battery Dance Company here and the National Dance Institute
of New York. She has performed all over India, Western Europe, North
and South America, China, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. She
has led her group to prominent festivals, such as Sadlers Wells, Champs
Elysee, Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and all those in India. She
created the female lead, Draupadi, in "The Mahabharata" epic directed
by Peter Brook in both French and English versions in 1984-1988.
The Mother Goddess has a central role in
Hindu mythology and belief. In a philosophy
that accepts the primary being as
"Ardhanarishwara," half-female and
half-male, Devi or Shakti is the primal kinetic
energy, without whom the male remains
passive and immobile.
In an earlier work, "Shakti - The Power of Women," Sarabhai sought to
penetrate the real feelings of heroines and legends created by men for
their own purposes. The desperation of women subjected to arranged marriage,
the dowry system and sati are powerfully communicated in dance and mime.
It is a mix of the stylized movements of traditional Indian dance forms
with the spontaneous expressiveness of modem Indian dance. For the opening
of the Sackler exhibit, Sarabhai will perform on March 27 at 730 p.m.
and March 28 at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
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