Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart
Princeton, NJ
30 July 2016
Today we attended the
arangetram (the debut performance of an Indian classical dance) performed by the daughter of friends of ours, whom we have known for twenty-something years.
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| Kira Pancha |
When we arrived, we were greeted by a young girl with a basket of flowers. She told me to take a flower and a bobby pin and affix the flower to my hair.
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| Bowl of Aromatic Flowers for Hair Ornamentation |
The
Bharatanatyam that Kira performed is a type of classical Indian dance that expresses the religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism. The stories performed during the dance recital are written in ancient Sanskrit and are over 500 years old. An orchestra and vocalists singing the Sanskrit lyrics supported Kira in her performance.
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| Percussion, Flute, and Vocals |
Kira's cousin from India introduced the various routines and gave an explanation of the Sanskrit stories including interpretation of hand movements to allow people in the audience like myself to have a better understanding of the significance of the dance.
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Kira's Cousin from India
Introducing a Routine |
Kira performed eight routines separated by one fifteen-minute intermission. Each routine required precision in body movement combined with facial expression to convey the full story being portrayed. Her entire performance entailed well over two hours of strenuous activity.
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| Balance |
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| Hand Movement |
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| Facial Expression |
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| One of Many Difficult Poses |
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| Theatrical Flare |
Through her dance Kira told many stories. For example, she offered praise to Vishnu - the Lord of Sustenance and enacted the story of Krishna from his birth in prison to his pranks as a child and his heroic acts in later life. For one of Kira's routines, nature pitched in and added to the drama. The dance told a story involving heavy rain, and as that particular routine began, thunder rumbled in unison with the beginning of the music from the orchestra. As Kira danced, the rain pounded on the roof of the building emphasizing the content of her story.
Before the last act of the show, Kira's parents thanked the audience for coming and expressed their pride in Kira's achievement. The fully-occupied room contained travelers from across the country and around the world.
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| Proud Parents - Jill and Pramod |
A reception was held after the show including a buffet that tempted the attendees to enjoy some fine Indian cuisine. Kira circulated among the guests, and Clark and I got a chance to speak with her and express our appreciation for her accomplishment.
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| Evelyn with Kira at the Reception |
Besides talking to Kira, I got to meet some members of Kira's family including her grandmother from India. Clark met Kira's grandmother over twenty years ago when he visited Pramod's family in Hong Kong on a business trip to Singapore. Twenty plus years later I finally had the pleasure of making her acquaintance as well. She recommended a book to Clark and myself called
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. We both thought this would make an interesting read.
