Dear Friends,
Sutra workshop this evening (22/10/23) in Kyoto, organised by odissi dancer/teacher Sachiko Murakami was a lovely, lively & smooth affair. About 30 participants attended. With 14 from Sutra’s side, the studio was sufficiently packed. Most participants are from Kyoto, Osaka & Kobe. Also present were dancers Soyo (Tokyo), Yukie and students (Nagoya), Sachie (Fukuoka), Yoshiko & Tomomi (Niiagata).
As most participants were dancers and had been exposed to Indian dance, the class was relatively fast. I had a hardworking interpreter, Kimiko Otani San, a former bharatanatyam dancer (still active at 80 something of age), who had spent a couple of years studying in Kalakshetra (Chennai).
Warm-up was quickly done before we settled into teaching the pure dance part of odissi, pronto.
The dancers were able to do the chowki and tribhanga exercises, easily. So, we were able to move forward with teaching the rudiments of the Mangalacharan of Debaprasad, in record time.
By an hour and a half, I was able to complete the Mangalacharan. Another 45 minutes of Q & A and several demonstrations later, where Sutra dancers performed – we were able to give them an introductory taste of the Debaprasad odissi style and at the same time share the creative process in both teaching and choreography.
Dinner at a nearby Nepalese restaurant, courtesy of Sachiko, completed a very lovely interactive session with Japan dancers. The objective of introducing them to the Debaprasad Parampara of Odissi and simultaneously share the creative process behind Jaya Ram, was accomplished.
Ramli
Video by Vickneshwaran