Hindu myths will come to life through Bharatanatyam style of dance at Rodey Theater this Saturday, thanks to the Kalakriti dance group's presentation of "Kala Darpanam."
The event will benefit the Asian American Association of New Mexico and their efforts to build an Asian American cultural center in the international district of Albuquerque. AAANM's secretary, Bobbi Nobles, said the event is the first of many to raise funds for the center.
"We have received some state money from the state Legislature," Nobles said. "It'll help us in initial designing. We're trying to help people (in the community) understand what we are trying to make."
Kala Darpanam, Sanskrit for "An Offering of Art," features the talents of Lonika Majithia and Anita Rao.
The event is in the Bharatanatyam style of dance, or the Indian equivalent of ballet, Rao said.
Majithia, a UNM medical student, started dancing at age 4. Rao, who began dancing when she was 8 years old, attends the University of Pittsburgh and is studying linguistics.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Majithia said the goal of Kala Darpanam is to raise funds for the AAANM and promote Indian culture.
"The purpose of the show is two-fold: one is to make the community more aware of the dance form and the second is to present the idea of the Asian American cultural center to the public," Majithia said. "I have been performing the dance form, Bharatanatyam, in Albuquerque for the past 10 years and find that more and more people are interested in learning about the dance and seeing a full presentation, such as will be done on July 18."
Bharatanatyam, a combination of dance steps, hand gestures, and facial expressions, is about 3,000 years old and comes from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Majithia said.
"They (Indians at Tamil Nadu) saw these temple carvings on these temples and they showed various dance poses and dance steps and that's how they got the information about how these dances are done," Rao said.
The dance form tells stories from Hindu culture through the use of facial expressions that mime emotions.
"Footwork is what you do with your feet and your hands, but the main part of the dance is expressions in the sense that we tell stories from Hindu mythology and about gods," Rao said. "So a main part of training is learning how to convey expressions and make them look real, and that takes a long time for dancers to master."
The dancers wear traditional colored saris and elaborate jewelry, but the main emphasis is on the eyes.
"We don't use any mascara or any stuff like that. All we use is eyeliner," Rao said. "Our eyes are one of the important things in the dance because that's what conveys all the expressions, so when you see it, you'll see our eyes are completely done up."
With the show premiering soon, Rao and Majithia have increased their practice from two-hour sessions once a week to two-hour sessions three times a week. Rao said the life of a Bharatanatyam dancer is exhausting but rewarding.
"I remember when I was teaching, the students would cry because it was so hard for them," Rao said. "Bharatanatyam is one of those dances that is really symmetrical and really rigid. Everything has to be completely straight, and for a lot of people that's really difficult. "
The dance, while different from mainstream dance forms, promises to be entertaining, Nobles said.
"From the time I first saw Lonika dance . I was just fascinated and amazed at what she did on the dance floor, considering what we normally looked at," Nobles said. "Every move she makes, every twitch in her face, movement of her eyes, head, everything is controlled. It's just amazing to me. I'm really looking forward to this."
