Arts
Refugees, Odisi and Ramli
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Arts
Refugees, Odisi and Ramli |
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Running SUARAM'S documentary, "Running", was shown free to a packed audience at Green Hall. The pitiless tormenting of the "unlawful immigrants", the bullying of even those with papers, told us in stark terms that this country is still infected with Mahathir's cry: "shoot the refugees!". (see article in this issue: "Enemy No 2"). Odissi  The Temple of Fine Arts presented the 2000 year old Odisi (Odissi) dance from Orissa recently. It was an evening of great dancing, confirming that India has a vigorous civilisation that is still alive and kicking. Poses are more contorted than in the other Indian dances because the dance divides the body into three parts - the head, the bust and the torso. This dance form performed in the worship of Krishna was revived in the 1950s by four teachers one of whom was Deba Prasad Das. His pupill Durga Charan Rabir led the team that came to Penang to present Amjali - Homage to Guru Sri Deba Prasad Das. The musicians were first rate and came from Orissa. What surprised was the high standard of the dancers who also performed with the team. No catalogue was available and photography was not allowed, hence the lack of photos on this page. It was Ramli Ibrahim who first introduced this dance form to us. |
Ramli and his Sutra
Foundation imtroduced their Rasa Unmasked at the
Dewan Sri Pinang the same month. Directed and choreographed
by Ramli Ibrahim and Anandavali Sivanathan human
emotions were revealed in episodial instalments -
wonderment, love, valour, compassion, laughter, disgust, fear, anger
and serenity. Music was by the
Chinese-American Alex Dea
co-founder of the Teater Cahaya, a collective of Japanese Noh, Javanese
Arja, Javanese Bedoyo, Bharata Natyam and Odissi. Dea, together with
Aruna Parthiban and Bala Sankar were the musicians in the performance.  Wilson Quah and his Areca Jazz Ensemble performed at the spacious New World Part concert hall (left) and were followed by Beltuner, a French Gypsy jazz group composed of Francois Castielo (accordion), Nicholas Paltras (double base) and Pascal Muller (guitar). They introduced us to musette, the music of cosmopolitan Paris. Following this event was a French Film Festival of five outstanding films. |
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Sri Mutiara Galleri Exhibitions of works by artists both young and old, regulars as well as first timers at Armenian Street Curator: Koay Soo Kau |
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