Odissi Dance Performance Saveri Pallavi by Sri Keshava - Janmastami @ HKCCC

Most of us experience dance as a way to express a wide variety of emotions, to process or release feelings and often exclaim celebration. I'm sure all cultures have some form of story telling dance, but within some cultures this expression is highly developed and stylised.
What happens when we combine spiritual subject matter with dance? What happens when the intended subject of our expression of love is God? For me it is transcendence, the perfection of physical movement. I was never one to sit easily for hours in meditation. My legs go numb and my mind wanders. Divine dance has been a practical, movement-based meditation for me, a way to offer my entire body, mind and spirit to God. If japa is Krsna dancing on my tongue, then Classical Indian Dance is Krsna lila moving within my body. It is the most perfect dovetailing besides music. No wonder.... in the spiritual world every word is a song and every move is a dance.
With my dance collaborative, Taal Dance Co, we were 6 girls. Each with different disciplines. Two with Bharatanatyam, two with Kathak, one with Kuchipudi, myself Odissi and Mohiniyattam and lightly Kathak and Bharatanatyam. We all choreographed and created pieces fusing these styles. We performed with great South Asian progressive DJs like Karsh Kale, MIDIval Punditz, and the scene's GOAT... Cheb i Sabbah. At a difficult time in my life, when my own spiritual path was thrown off by personal events, classical Indian dance and music remained my untarnished lifeline and buoy. If not for my music and dance gurus, I may not have made it. I did Odissi intensives in Mumbai, India, but my real debt of gratitude is to Nandita Behera of Odissi Dance Circle, Cerritos California with whom I learned Odissi from the early 00s on. She is the most loving and kind teacher. She grew up in her own dance guru's ashram in Odisha before moving to USA. All mistakes are my own, but any finesse in my dance and expression is due to her. Please check out her channel on UA-cam (Nandita Behera Odissi).
Sadly many of the girls of Taal Dance got married and stopped dancing. I never figured out why one leads to the other lol! But I am grateful to incorporate my classical Indian dance within my two projects, Global Party People (electronic dance, world + mantra beats) and Krishna Kirtan Music ‪@KrishnaKirtanMusic‬ (acoustic kirtan and ragas). Join GPP at one of our dance parties or join KKM for our regular kirtan and raga classes. Thank you for sharing my artistic journey.
www.globalpart...
/ globalpartypeople
linktr.ee/kris...
/ krishnakirtanmusic
Now for the official...
Nandita Behera, is the artistic director of Odissi Dance Circle Cerritos California, and premier disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and Guru Gangadhar Pradhan.
Classical Indian Odissi is a traditional style of classical dance which originated in the temples of Odisha, incorporating Nritta, pure dance, and Abhinaya, storytelling. Saberi Pallavi is a light pure dance item based on Raga Saveri celebrating sringara rasa.
Odissi Dance Performance Saveri Pallavi by Sri Keshava - Janmastami @ HKCCC