South Asian Studies Students Association, organized a music and dance exhibition with live performances, displaying the history of the Kathak and Odissi dance traditions, featuring Chitralekha Odissi Dance Creations and Joanna De Souza. This event was a part of the Language Series, which is, inspired by the Bangladeshi nationalist language movements marked by the Feb 21 Language Martyrs’ Day (now International Mother Language Day).
Ritesh Das, founder of Toronto Tabla Ensemble, and disciple of Pt. Swapan Chowdhuri plays a tabla solo, accompanied by Kathak dancer Joanna de Souza. De Souza, a student of Pt. Chitresh Das, demonstrated bol, the spoken language of rhythm in South Asian music traditions| Photo Credit: Naushad Ali Husein
Joanna de Souza and Ritesh Das shared their 20 year old passion and vast experience in north Indian dance and music with audience and students at the Robert Gill Theatre on Friday, Feb 26. .
Joanna de Souza who is perhaps the only Canadian born artist to achieve a Master’s Degree in kathak dance through Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad, India, enchanted the audience. Her study of kathak, which began in 1978, continued under Pandit Chitresh Das. Since her return to Toronto, she has gained reputation as an excellent kathak dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her traditional and collaborative works have earned her a variety of nominations and awards.
Ankita Sarker, student at Chitraleka Odissi Dance Creations demonstrated *abhinaya*, the art of expression and story-telling in the ancient East Indian dance form of Odissi.|Photo Credit: Sanjid Anik
Ritesh Das, composer and musician, has studied tabla with gurus Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Ustad Zakir Hussain and most extensively with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. He has toured throughout the US, Canada and India, and performed with many of India’s great music and dance innovators. Since moving to Canada, he has established himself as an extraordinary teacher of tabla and founded the Toronto Tabla Ensemble in 1991. His tabla beats inspired the audience and every listener praised his talent.
The event was a great success full of entertainment and social networking. The performances were indeed enchanting and praise-worthy as Globe and Mail described:
“Odissi is considered the most lyrical and sensual of the South Asian dance styles. The art form brings to life temple dance sculptures in a series of beautiful poses linked by intricate footwork and hand movements. Devraj’s clever spin on this living sculpture is to elaborate on traditional Odissi movements-in other words, to make the dance more complicated and ornate, a concept embraced in the word “pallavi”. The “science” part is anchored in the complex mathematics of the musical structure of the raaga, or specific number of beats of the music. The resulting dance is like watching Odissi in fast-forward. Traditional poses flash by like telephone poles from a passing car, while the siblings execute Devraj’s demanding physicality with awesome speed.”
Thaevening the audience experienced their magical performance and later networked with others who share their interest.
By staff writer
