Blogs
Fri Aug 29, 10:04 AM
Thu Aug 28, 9:14 PM
Fri Aug 29, 6:22 PM
Fri Aug 29, 4:00 AM
Fri Aug 29, 2:47 PM
Fri Aug 29, 2:20 PM
Wed Aug 27, 7:20 AM
Mon Aug 25, 5:51 PM
Fri Aug 29, 9:42 AM
Thu Aug 28, 2:08 PM
Fri Aug 29, 2:49 PM
Fri Aug 29, 1:14 PM
Recent Articles
Recent Articles by Linda Shapiro
No related articles found
National Features >
Houston Press
A flight attendant's smackdown with the wife of mega-preacher Joel Osteen inspires a whole new set of commandments.
By Rich Connelly
The Pitch
A country musician rescues Waylon Jennings' tour bus from the scrap heap.
By C.J. Janovy
Village Voice
The provocateur who brought you "Piss Christ" pinches off a new concept.
By Lynn Yaeger
Ragamala Music and Dance Theater: Sva
Published on April 30, 2008
"Fusion" is the buzz word in the arts these days, and dance is no exception. Choreographers infiltrate one another's forms, mixing ballet and hip hop, modern dance and gymnastics, Flamenco and Indian dance. While such dynamic melding can be exhilarating, it can also be as skin-deep as Botox. But not when Ragamala Music and Dance Theater mix the classical Indian dance form Bharatanatyam with Japanese Taiko drumming. Once again, Ragamala's adventurous artistic directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy show how culturally different forms can create a new and vibrant dialect. "Sva (Vital Force)" brings together the superbly articulate Aparna Ramaswamy and the Wadaiko Ensemble Tokara drummers. It's fascinating to watch Ramaswamy, an amazing dancer, demonstrate a sensual interplay of rhythmic precision, sculptural form, and spontaneity. By contrast, the Taiko drummers work in big, bold gestures, striking barrel-like drums. It's a bit like watching the turbulent power of a thunderstorm offset by a sinuous tapestry of interlocking patterns and textures. Both forms have a tradition of powerfully articulated and complex rhythms, and both are spiritual disciplines expressed through a vibrant physicality. Aparna will also dance "Ardhanareeshwara Stotram," the origin of creation, in which she reconciles the Divine Feminine with the Divine Masculine. A third work, "Yathra," fuses cello and sitar music with lighting by local master Jeff Bartlett and live drawing by New York-based artist Terry Rosenberg. Special Ragamala Gala and Benefit is $75-$80 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Weisman Art Museum (333 East River Rd. Minneapolis; for more info call the Southern Theater).
May 1-3, 8 p.m.; Sun., May 4, 2 & 7 p.m., 2008