Tejas Dance - Once Upon a Time Program

Celebrating local dance, theatre and art in the

Dallas Arts District.

kadAcitOnce Upon a Time Presented by Tejas Dance

September 10 – 11, 2021

Tejas Dance Tejas dance was founded by Bhuvana Venkatraman in 2014 as a platform to enrich and popularize Bharatanatyam; identify and encourage talent in the field. We strongly believe in the ever- expanding potential of all art forms, Bharatanatyam in particular. Our mission is to blend the great art with changing times and concepts; and also gain acceptance in different cultural milieus. We want to continue our efforts to bring in more cultural diversity in the mainstream dance scene. We don’t shy away from tough conversations. We want to create more works on matters that each one of us, deep down inside us, is trying to find expression. We have created and presented several full-length productions in Dallas area and are humbled by the excellent reviews and feedback. We enjoy collaborating with artists and choreographers of different art forms. We conduct master classes and engage in several outreach and cultural exchange programs that help increase the understanding and appreciation for our art and culture.

Artistic Directors Bhuvana Venkatraman and Chintan Patel are both enthusiastic dancers/choreographers, strongly rooted in tradition striving to give new meaning to Bharatanatyam techniques and themes.

The duo brings a great deal of innovation, creativity and enthusiasm through dynamic movements and expressions innate to this art form. Backed with strong training in the art form, they

are well equipped and excited to popularize this dance form by offering traditional Bharatanatyam performances that audience across cultures can enjoy, relate and appreciate.

Kadacit – Once upon a time Cast: Bhuvana Venkatraman and Chintan Patel

Concept and Choreography: Bhuvana Venkatraman and Chintan Patel

Music Courtesy: Tejas Dance. Special thanks to Athma foundation, Sahrdaya foundation, Parshwanath Upadhye and Srikala Bharath

Tejas Dance portrait

kadacit!! One upon a time!! How many memories do these words bring?

Storytelling is an integral part of most cultures, India in particular, with every region having its own style of narrating. Storytelling is not just for entertainment, but also to remind us who we are, what our values are, and what it means to be Indian. It is also a way of preserving the culture, beliefs and traditions of a community and passing them down to the next generation.

It is a significant art. We are here today to tell the story of our culture through art.

The dance form we are presenting, Bharatanatyam, has flourished in the temples of southern India since ancient times.

According to the treatise Natya Sastra from 2 BCE, a repertoire of Bharatanatyam consists of three attributes: Nritta - Pure movement with emphasis in beauty of motion, form, speed, range and pattern Nritya - expressive aspect of the dance to communicate feelings, emotions, stories involving sophisticated usage of hand gestures and subtle nuances of expressions

Item 1 Ganesha _Amitava Sarkar

Natya - theater or a play, that can be acted out by a solo performer where the dancer uses certain standardized body movements to indicate a new character in the underlying story

Ganesha Atharvashirsha We start with our ancient literature, something more than 5000 years old. Our first piece is the Ganesha atharvashirsha, one of the 108 Upanishads, integrated with an invocatory item Khanda Alarippu.

Item 2 Pushpanjali_Praveen Yarlagadda

Pushpanjali This is a traditional item exploring the nritta – pure dance aspect of the art form. Enjoy the joy of movements integrated with different rhythmic patterns and a beautiful melody to follow along!

Item 3 Saptaswara_Krishna Murthy

Saptaswara This item narrates some stories of Shiva, from the most ancient Puranas through the Indian classical music system. The Carnatic music system consists of seven notes called the Sapta (seven) Swaras (musical notes). They are: Sa – Shadjama – A deer represents the mind. Just like a Deer it jumps from one place to another swiftly in Chanchalata. Shiva holds a deer on one hand as symbolism for complete control of the mind.

Ri – Rishabha – Rishabh or Nandi is symbolism of eternal waiting, because waiting is considered the greatest virtue in Indian culture. One who knows how to simply sit and wait becomes naturally meditative.

Ga – Gandhara – The life giving river Ganga is considered to be the purest form of water. Ganga is supposed to be a celestial river which landed on this planet, and the force of it would have

caused damage to the world so Shiva took it on his head and let it flow through his hair gently down the Himalayan slopes.

Ma – Madhyama – the auspicious form of Shiva - Mahadeva – The most powerful and egalitarian adored by everyone – the devas and asuras.

Pa – Panchama – The perfect fifth note represents the fivefaced panch mukhalinga. The five faces of Shiva including five elements, the directions, the five senses and five parts of the body. These represent Shiva’s five aspects: Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana.

Da – Dhaivata – Dakshayani is a form of Parvati, the consort of Shiva. Even as a child, she adored Shiva and would love to hear stories of him. She grew up in devotion for Shiva. She slowly steered away from the comforts of the palace and went into deep meditation. Moved by her intense penance, Shiva came down to marry her and hence becoming Dakshayani Vallabha.

Ni – Nishada – Samudra Mantana – The churning of the Milky ocean in search of Amrutha, the divine elixir. This is one of the most ancient and most famous stories originally narrated in the Vishnu Purana. Once upon a time, the Devas and the Asuras agreed to work together to churn the Milky ocean to obtain the Amrutha. They decided to use the Mandhara mountain and the Snake Vasuki as the rope. Vishnu decided to help them by supporting the mountain thus providing a stable platform, in the form of a Tortoise (Kurma). At first, many auspicious ratnas emerged out of the ocean - like Devi Lakshmi, the Apsaras, Kamadhenu, Airavata, Parijata, Sharanga and Kalpavriksha .

Item 4 Jhansi_Amitava Sarkar

Out emerged the most poisonous Halahala, threatening to consume all forms of life on earth. In order to save the creations, Lord Shiva consumed the poison. Parvati blocked it in his neck, to save him. This is the form of Shiva as Neelakhanta.

Jhansi Lakshmibai, the Queen of Jhansi was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance against the British rule in India. After the death of her husband, she was asked to give up her kingdom to British rule.

When she was informed of this she cried out “Main apni Jhansi nahi doongi” (I shall not surrender my Jhansi). Staying true to her words she fought a fierce battle against the British. Her act of courage evoked a sense of patriotism in all the citizens of India and gave them strength to fight against British rule. She remains a symbol of resistance for the nation.

Item 5 Draupadi_Praveen Yarlagadda

Draupadi / Panchali Panchali was the daughter of Drupad, the king of Panchala, and the wife and queen of the five great Pandavas, renowned alike for her loveliness and her granite will. She was an extremely beautiful, intelligent and virtuous woman, who was aggressive and spoke her mind in a world of men.

In a bizarre turn of events, due to an evil plot by cruel Duryodhan, she was subjected to gross humiliation. He ordered Dusshasana to drag Panchali by her hair to the great assembly of people and then to disrobe her. In her time of need, the “laws’’ of men did not save her. As Panchali turned to the higher divine power of Lord Krishna, her saree grew and grew. Krishna gave her an endless saree, and thus protected her honour.

If they could harm a powerful and magical woman like Panchali, what would be the plight of others? An angry Panchali stepped

on Dusshasana and cursed the whole court to be burned down to death. She left no mercy onto anyone, with her words shooting like fire, She single handedly cause the biggest war of Indian history – the great MAHABHARATA

Item 6 Shikandi_Prasad Golkonda

Is this merely a story of Panchali? NO In this era of victim-blaming, we need these stories to remind us to empower the victim and to stand up for justice.

Shikandi Shikandi is another character from the great epic, Mahabharata. In the previous birth, Shikandi was a woman named amba, who’s marriage was incidentally spoiled by an action by Bheesham of hastinapura. She had a grudge against him and wanted to kill him. In spite of several efforts, she could not succeed, and in her next birth she was born as a girl to King Drupada and later became a man with the help of a Yaksha. As Shikandi, she still remembered and retained the grudge and finally

succeeded by playing a role in the Mahabharata war. With this as a background story, here’s an episode from Shikandi’s life where he struggled with gender identity and self acceptance.

To realise his full potential and serve his life’s purpose, he has to acknowledge and accept the women in him as his strength and not his weakness.

Item 7 Thillana_Krishna Murthy

Thillana This special piece is a melody of Revathi Thillana and a bhajan.

This piece describes the most celebrated feminine form of the

divine. Goddess Adiparashakti who stands for eternal limitless power is formless. She is the power behind this universe and beyond. She manifests in many forms, and bestows boundless grace, wealth, health, courage, fertility, wisdom and salvation to all.

We are very humbled and thankful for the opportunity to present our art form in the heart of Dallas at such an amazing venue. . We are thankful to the AT&T Performing Arts Center for their support through the Elevator Project. We thank the staff of AT&T performing Arts center for their support, Vignesh Babaiah for Stage management, Jessica Drayton for lights, Amitava Sarkar, Prasad Golkonda & Saravana Janardhan for Photo and video coverage.

GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM