MEERA – INDIA 18-June

Description

Choreographic evocation of Meera, the mystical princess poet of Rajasthan who, in the 15th century, devoted her life to Lord Krishna.

CHIDAMBARAM DANCE COMPANY
Chitra Visweswaran: choreography and stage direction
Bombay Javashri Ramnath: music

I threw off my veil
Took refuge at the feet of the grand master
Clicked my fingers and danced in the temple of life.
Meera Baï

In the heart of Rajasthan, in the bastion of fortresses perched on steep hills, between precious stones and semi-desert plains whose luminous expanse is reflected through mushrabiya, a princess, Meera, was born in the 16th century in the kingdom of Mewar. She made Lord Krishna the husband of her soul.
Seized by ecstatic passion, she became the queen of poets, the mistress of the Bakhti spiritual path that leads to jubilant liberation through godly devotion that implies renouncing the world. Meera became the Radha (consort) of Krishna in a love game embodying the search by the individual soul for union with God.
This performance also pays homage to feminine artistic creativity marked by the refinement and imagination of a gesture, a word. In this way, the expression of artists crossing other mountains and other spiritual landscapes are melded with the traditions of Rajasthan.
Today, Meera is known as one of the greatest poets of her time. The performance, choreographed and interpreted by Chitra Visweswaran, an icon of Bharata Natyam, with dancers from the Chidambaram Dance Company and set to music by Bombay Javashri Ramnath, is a true celebration of the princess-poet, of her courage, her devotion and her deep conviction.