After all the efforts to stage GANJAM, simultaneously overseeing that the rest of the productions in the Festival runs smoothly, it is amazing to think that GANJAM, is now over. There are now just two more productions to go over the weekend : The Tree (Dua Space) and Aduh, Seroja! (ASWARA) before the DiverseCity 2015 Festival is over!
Miraculously, GANJAM, went well – both artistically and audience-wise. Artistically, all the contributing elements added to complete the whole and we cannot imagine the production without the contributing elements of stagecraft by Dinanath Pathy and Sivarajah Natarajan; the brilliant costume, art-graphics, the magnificent live orchestra from Odisha and, of course, the dazzling dancing by Sutra dancers who interpreted the dance composition of Guru Gajendra Panda with great élan.
Audience-wise, GANJAM, thankfully managed to fill the cavernous Istana Budaya to almost full house during the last two shows! A triumphant feat, indeed!
The audience was almost unanimous in claiming that GANJAM may well be Sutra’s finest odissi production to date, though, I would not like to judge it with the rest of Sutra’s equally compelling productions such as Spellbound, Vision of Forever, Odissi Stirred, Krishna Love Re-Invented etc. Images of GANJAM still lingers: the magnificent procession of the goddess, dancers forming boat-like forms alluding to Kalinga’s maritime influence; the excellent dancing of Divya Nair, Geethika Sree, Revathi, Tan Mei Mei and Thrisherna; the amazing musicians from Odisha and many, many more ‘likes’… Congratulations to all who made GANJAM an international odissi performance of the first calibre!
Ramli Ibrahim
Artistic Director, GANJAM
“GANJAM, the odissi production of Sutra, represents an interesting intercultural efforts from several dance-makers from both Malaysia and India. In a positive way it has demonstrated the mobility of culture and arts to cross national frontiers. Simultaneously, it has opened and proven several possibilities for new choreographers who envision a new dynamism in odissi. GANJAM has widen these possibilities and offer a new vista of frontiers for exploration!”
Dinanath Pathy,
writer, visual artist and consultant to GANJAM
photographs by A Prathap
