Vahanas: God’s Own Vehicles, a Bharatanatyam Performance
For Immediate Release
April 10, 2024
Contact: Malathi Iyengar
malathisiyengar@gmail.com
Brand Associates Dance Series
Presents
Rangoli Dance Company
Vahanas: God’s Own Vehicles, a Bharatanatyam Performance
Inspired by the Vahanas or the animal vehicles in the Hindu Pantheon, Malathi Iyengar creates dances that portray these mythological figures through symbols and story telling. The significance of these Vahanas lies both in the mundane and the spiritual. Using vibrant rhythms, sweeping gestures, and facial expressions, dancers showcase Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance) and folk movements to depict the gods and their animal mounts.
THE FACTS
WHAT:
Rangoli Dance Company presents Vahanas: God’s Own Vehicles, a Bharatanatyam Performance
WHEN:
Saturday, May 18, 2024 @ 5pm
WHO:
Rangoli Dance Company
Choreographer: Malathi Iyengar
Dancers: Amulya Ananth, Sheila Aula, Shivani Aysola, Vyshnavi Aysola, Natasha Bhogal, Sonal Dyavarshetty, Ritika Iyer, Sweta Joseph, Pritika Nekkanti, Anya Prasad & Nishitha Viswanathan
Music – Traditional and New Compositions
Photo by George Simian
Words – Malathi Iyengar
WHERE:
Brand Library & Art Center, 1601 W Mountain St, Glendale, CA 91201
HOW:
Admission: Free
Information– malathisiyengar@gmail.com or visit rangoli.org
Brand Library Dance Series
This series curated by acclaimed choreographer, teacher, and producer Jamie Nichols presents top dance companies from southern California performing site-specific work in non-traditional spaces around the Brand Library in Glendale.
Rangoli Dance Company
Malathi Iyengar established Rangoli Foundation for Art & culture in 1985 and Rangoli Dance Company in 1992 to share performing and visual arts of India. The company features the vibrant south Indian dance form ‘Bharatanatyam’ through strong technique and story telling.
Drawing from the myth and spirituality of south Indian heritage, Iyengar creates dance landscapes that dwell in both traditional and secular, and rhythm and stillness. The dances convey a sense of reverence & mystery and are offered in the spirit of universal celebration today.
Bharatanatyam, one of the most profound art forms of the world, is an Indian dance form that originated in the temples of South India. Dancers focus on a mastery of abstract movements, stylized hand gestures, and employ a complex system of facial expressions and body language to depict images and stories.
https://www.brandlibrary.org/dance-series
Rangoli Dance Company
Artistic Directors: Malathi Iyengar & Lakshmi Iyengar
Sculptor & Visual Artist – Suresh Iyengar
Hereditary Dancers Acknowledgment:
We at Rangoli Dance Company would like to acknowledge the art form which we are practicing as Bharatanatyam today is a reimagining of a dance culture originally practiced by members of the courtesan hereditary community (i.e. the Isai Vellalar/Isaiyalar community including female
dancers/devadasis and male dance teachers/nattuvanars/Nattuvar). This art practiced by members from the community was performed at various sites including temples and royal courts of Tamil, Telugu, & Kannada speaking areas of the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. We acknowledge the art
practiced by this community was politically, socially and aesthetically challenged during the 19th and early 20th centuries. We are aware of the multiple aesthetic changes which have gone into the reimagining of Bharatanatyam. We are thankful that we are able to practice and perform this newly recreated version of Bharatanatyam on this land today.
Written by: Neeraja Ramani, Toronto, Canada
Edited by: Hari Krishnan, in Dance, Toronto, Canada
