The dance performance “East as Center: Kathakali, Kathak, and Balinese Dance” marked the last piece of Wesleyan’s five-day celebration of the Hindu holiday Navaratri on Sunday. The performance, divided into two parts, first featured dance styles from Bali and India, and then wove them together into a unique and coherent whole.
Balinese Legong dance is one of the world’s greatest traditions and was performed to live music by Ni Ketut Arini, who, according to the program for the performance, is “one of the most highly regarded teachers in Bali [and] known as a master artist.”
Arini, dressed in yellow silk, personified a bumblebee in a garden, alternately flitting coquettishly around the stage in tiny, fluttering steps, and pausing to bend and stretch toward a male bumblebee dancer she was courting.
Next was Kathakali, a dance/storytelling tradition dating back to the seventeenth century. It was presented to the audience by Guru Govindan Kutty, who, according to Sunday’s program, is “an honored master of Kathakali dance and one of the last great masters of the traditional style.”
Kutty treated the audience to a short lesson in the basics of Kathakali, which relies on subtle facial expressions to relate stories through dance.
“There are nine fundamental expressions [in Kathakali], for in dance expression is very important,” Kutty said.
He went on to list, and then demonstrate the expressions, which include “erotic,” “comic,” “sarcastic,” “angry,” “heroic,” “disgusted,” “surprised,” and “serene.” Kutty entranced the audience with several expressive dances, accompanied by the spare vocalizations of his son, Sukumar Kutty.
Kathak, a similar storytelling/dance tradition hailing from northern India, came last.
“[Kathak] is unique because it combines Hindu and Muslim culture, the two main traditions… graceful and sensual with dynamic and powerful,” Pandit Chitresh Das explained to the audience.
Das, who has trained since the age of nine in the two major Kathak traditions, was a crowd favorite, participating in rhythmic give and take with his musicians. His energetic performance set Crowell Concert hall ringing with the bells encircling his ankles (called ghungroo) while his yells of triumph at the end of each section left the audience smiling.
After a brief intermission, the show resumed, this time with all of the dancers working together in a single piece. They deftly combined the unique styles of Kathakali, Kathak, and Balinese Legong dance in order to act out a story popularly told in India during Navaratri. The story involves various famous figures in Hindu mythology. Such cultural synthesis truly brought the afternoon’s theme of “East as Center” out, combining traditions into a new, unique celebration.
Student reactions to the performance were uniformly enthusiastic.
“I thought it was amazing,” said Laurel Steinhauser ’05. “The hand gestures were very cool.”
“The musicians are equal with the dancers,” said Una Ni Fhlannagain, a visiting international student. “I loved the interactions between them.”
Kingston Wong ’06 agreed.
“I loved everything, all three dances, specifically the Kathak more,” he said. “I thought the technical steps were very attractive. This has made me more interested in the culture.”
For many of the members of the audience, clad in saris and other traditional Indian clothing, the performance was a chance to experience the culture they left thousands of miles away.
“It’s really like being in India,” said Anand Venkatachklam ’08. “In December or in the spring we do something very much like this, maybe a little more devotional. This December I went to something really like this, concert after concert. It’s like being at home.”
For those of the audience who were not Indian, it was still an educational, enlightening and entertaining experience.
“I think it was gorgeous and unique aesthetically, if sometimes difficult for me to follow without a background in Hindu culture” said Julia Cheng ’08.
Kwei Chang ’05 was also grateful for the experience.
“It’s a great opportunity to introduce this kind of music and diversity to the community,” he said.
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