A yogi and dancer weaves the soulful story of India through a dance of the Ganges.
KUALA LUMPUR: Last December India’s mystical Ganga (also called the Ganges) beckoned to classical dancer and yogi Parveen Nair and gifted him a bauble of inspiration as he meditated by her banks.
A week later Parveen returned to Malaysia with Ganga in his heart and the storyline of a Bharata Natyam performance in his head. Together with his trusted choreographer friend, 37-year-old Nimal Raj, they created “An Adoration… Ganga, the sole identity of spiritual India”.
“The performance maps Ganga from her birth into the earth to her geographical location flowing past the cities and finally merging with the ocean,” Parveen said. “It’s not just a dance, it’s a thematic presentation. And it is one that has never been staged in Malaysia before.”
“We want the audience to see Ganga as not only a river but also a source of life to which we are all connected. It’s when we don’t see this intertwining of lives that we treat our rivers as rubbish dumps.”
As the choreography and music arrangement began falling into place, Parveen turned his attention to his choice of fellow dancers. The prerequisite was clear – they had to inspire the performance instead of merely perform.
He didn’t have to look very far. His first teacher, Geetha Shankaran-Lam, 42, and new friend, Unnath Jain, 26, soon joined him on his creative odyssey.
“Parveen and I began as Facebook friends,” laughed Unnath, who arrived here last week from his homeland of Karnataka. “We only met last December when we performed together in India and we discovered that we had good chemistry on stage. So here we are again!”
Parveen, Nimal and a fellow dancer have since formed Mystic Creations, a dance production company, in a move to smoothen the sticky process of staging a performance.
“It’s easier to source for funds when you have a registered production company, bank account and personnel,” Nimal explained. “And it makes the paperwork so much easier when it comes to applying for professional visas for foreign artistes. But our first production has been a lot of hard work and we’re learning on our feet all the time.”
Despite the bureaucratic stumbling blocks and weak government support of performing arts, none of them can imagine a life without dance.
“It’s not a hobby or even a passion,” said Parveen, a dancer for 17 years. “Its life itself. I was born with rhythm and everything I see makes me wonder how I can express it through dance.”
“Unfortunately, parents only value dance as a means of keeping their children connected to their Indian roots. But when these children want to pursue it as a career, those same parents throw a fit because they can see that the government doesn’t support dance.”
Unnath, who has 16 years of dance flowing through him, experienced this firsthand.
“I was eight when I felt the pull to dance,” he shared. “One day I entered a temple and instantly felt the vibrations under my skin. From that day I began dreaming of dance moves and would move in my sleep.”
“But my father was a strict businessman and refused to let me study dance. So I fasted for three days until he finally relented thinking that I would get bored after a year. I still feel those vibrations today.”
Parveen leaned forward and said, “You know those children who can just dance without ever learning to dance? Who can watch a performance and then copy the moves perfectly from memory?”
He pointed at Unnath, Nimal and himself, and smiled. “These are the children.”
“An Adoration…Ganga” will be presented at the Shantanand Auditorium, Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur on February 19th and 20th. Show time is 8pm and tickets are priced at RM30, RM50 and RM100.
Part of the proceeds will go to the Spastic Children’s Association of Selangor and Federal Territory. For ticket purchase, please contact 012 352 9503 / 012 257 2509 / 012 3833831
KUALA LUMPUR: Last December India’s mystical Ganga (also called the Ganges) beckoned to classical dancer and yogi Parveen Nair and gifted him a bauble of inspiration as he meditated by her banks.A week later Parveen returned to Malaysia with Ganga in his heart and the storyline of a Bharata Natyam performance in his head. Together with his trusted choreographer friend, 37-year-old Nimal Raj, they created “An Adoration… Ganga, the sole identity of spiritual India”.
“The performance maps Ganga from her birth into the earth to her geographical location flowing past the cities and finally merging with the ocean,” Parveen said. “It’s not just a dance, it’s a thematic presentation. And it is one that has never been staged in Malaysia before.”
“We want the audience to see Ganga as not only a river but also a source of life to which we are all connected. It’s when we don’t see this intertwining of lives that we treat our rivers as rubbish dumps.”
As the choreography and music arrangement began falling into place, Parveen turned his attention to his choice of fellow dancers. The prerequisite was clear – they had to inspire the performance instead of merely perform.
He didn’t have to look very far. His first teacher, Geetha Shankaran-Lam, 42, and new friend, Unnath Jain, 26, soon joined him on his creative odyssey.
“Parveen and I began as Facebook friends,” laughed Unnath, who arrived here last week from his homeland of Karnataka. “We only met last December when we performed together in India and we discovered that we had good chemistry on stage. So here we are again!”
Parveen, Nimal and a fellow dancer have since formed Mystic Creations, a dance production company, in a move to smoothen the sticky process of staging a performance.
“It’s easier to source for funds when you have a registered production company, bank account and personnel,” Nimal explained. “And it makes the paperwork so much easier when it comes to applying for professional visas for foreign artistes. But our first production has been a lot of hard work and we’re learning on our feet all the time.”
Despite the bureaucratic stumbling blocks and weak government support of performing arts, none of them can imagine a life without dance.
“It’s not a hobby or even a passion,” said Parveen, a dancer for 17 years. “Its life itself. I was born with rhythm and everything I see makes me wonder how I can express it through dance.”
“Unfortunately, parents only value dance as a means of keeping their children connected to their Indian roots. But when these children want to pursue it as a career, those same parents throw a fit because they can see that the government doesn’t support dance.”
Unnath, who has 16 years of dance flowing through him, experienced this firsthand.
“I was eight when I felt the pull to dance,” he shared. “One day I entered a temple and instantly felt the vibrations under my skin. From that day I began dreaming of dance moves and would move in my sleep.”“But my father was a strict businessman and refused to let me study dance. So I fasted for three days until he finally relented thinking that I would get bored after a year. I still feel those vibrations today.”
Parveen leaned forward and said, “You know those children who can just dance without ever learning to dance? Who can watch a performance and then copy the moves perfectly from memory?”
He pointed at Unnath, Nimal and himself, and smiled. “These are the children.”
“An Adoration…Ganga” will be presented at the Shantanand Auditorium, Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur on February 19th and 20th. Show time is 8pm and tickets are priced at RM30, RM50 and RM100.
Part of the proceeds will go to the Spastic Children’s Association of Selangor and Federal Territory. For ticket purchase, please contact 012 352 9503 / 012 257 2509 / 012 3833831
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