“The Finding of the Soul”

Classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) and
electronica music – an exceptional and unique show!
Laxmi Ghimire, dance – Anantakara, music

Bharatnatyam is regarded as “a dance of fire” – the mystical manifestation of the metaphysical element of fire in the human body. It is a highly demanding dance, whose precise frameworks and metrics organize the volutes of a summoned body in all its splendour: no cell escapes the grace set in motion. This dance, once considered sacred, has come out of the temples and onto our stages. It is also intimately associated with Indian classical music and its rhythms.

show of 2014, mandala by Jialba and photos by emmanuel crooy

Le Bharatanatyam

Originaire de l’Inde du sud, le Bharatanatyam est considéré comme la plus ancienne forme de danse classique indienne. Jadis elle n’était interprétée que dans les temples par des danseuses (devadasis) qui avaient dédié leurs vies à leur art et aux dieux. Aujourd’hui elle a disparu des temples et a gagné la scène.

Bharatanatyam, le mot est lié à sa signification. D’une part Bharata est le nom ancien de l’Inde et Natyam signifie danse en Tamoul. Mais aussi il se décompose en:

‘Bha’ – Bhavam (signifie expression)
‘Ra’ – Ragam (musique),
‘Ta’ – Talam (rhythme)
et Natyam (danse)

Le Bharatanatyam est considéré comme « une danse de feu » – la manifestation mystique de l’élément métaphysique du feu dans le corps humain. Il est l’un des cinq principaux styles (un pour chaque élément) qui comprennent Odissi (élément de l’eau), Kuchipudi (élément de la terre), Mohiniattam (élément de l’air) et Kathakali (élément de l’éther). C’est une danse en solo, avec deux aspects, lasya, les lignes et mouvements féminins pleins de grâce, et tandava, l’aspect masculin (la danse de Shiva), qui correspondent au Yin-Yang du Tao chinois. La danseuse utilise tout son corps mais aussi son visage et ses yeux.

Danse ô combien exigeante, dont les canevas et les métriques précises organisent les volutes d’un corps convoqué dans toute sa splendeur : pas une cellule n’échappe à la grâce mise en mouvement. Cette danse considérée jadis comme sacrée est sortie des temples pour monter sur les scènes. Elle est aussi intimement associée à la musique classique indienne rythmée.

Rehearsal 2013

It was the first time that Laxmi danced to Western music, and what’s more, totally outside the strict framework of Indian classical music. I met him on his very first European tour. She accepted the challenge with great grace. We met for the first time on the day of the rehearsal. She had previously chosen one of the compositions that I arranged for our performance.
I have listened a lot, heard a lot of Indian music and we had a common background: Sri Aurobindo and his poetic work, Savitri.
What was inspiring was that each one went to meet the other while remaining in his identity, in the universe that is his, without trying to incorporate the universe of the other, nor to be incorporated into it. Like two rivers that sit side by side on their bangs and dialogue with respect. As a result, without realizing it, we have left the ethnic and multicultural patterns of world music to explore other spaces. ( Philippe Wauman)

Stepping into boundless Joy (2013)

The ‘timeless’ music that Anantakara composes and plays has this in common with Indian traditions: it is based on ‘palettes’ of sounds corresponding to colors, atmospheres, flavors, moods – one could say ‘modes’ – established in advance, which will serve as the basis for a totally new, ‘live’ game, in a kind of structured improvisation that reflects the energy of the place, the moment, the audience and the subtle synchronicity between the artists who lend themselves to it. Because electro-acoustic lutherie is composed of a computer – in charge of the sounds that make up the ‘palettes’ – a keyboard and a pad, this music can be related to what is called ‘ambient-electro’. However, let’s avoid getting trapped by the sometimes reductive connotations of this term….

For Laxmi Ghimire, 25 years old, Nepalese, a dancer of Bharatanatyam (the oldest form of classical Indian dance), who is performing for the second time in Europe, the sacred dimension of her art is inseparable from the performance, even if the latter takes place on a stage and not in a temple… During her visit to Brussels, she will present a series of new choreographies, some from the repertoire of her European tour based on recorded classical Indian music and the others, unpublished, created especially and solely for this evening, on the timeless music of Anantakara, around the theme of “The Quest for the Soul“.

Nature’s Longing Drive (april 2014)

Anantakara means “infinite deployment of a form that magnifies itself indefinitely …”. Beneath this word of Sanskrit origin we find a Belgian artist who creates subtly groovy ambient-electro instrumentals, inspired by “the re-enchantment of the world through wonder”, a quest for the meeting point of opposites, “this unexpected that regenerates and fulfills. ».

Laxmi was kind enough to try the adventure with Anantakara once again: for these two artists, few preliminary rehearsals, but a lot of concentration, a communion between them and what connects them to something greater than themselves, a state of receptivity and listening in which the audience participates by its full presence, creatively also by its attention…

he animated mandalas were proposed by the painter. Ignacio Baranga, a guarantee of an unforgettable moment!

Laxmi Ghimire dance ( 2016)

Dancer, choreographer, teacher.
Laxmi Ghimire was trained at the illustrious Kalakshetra Institute in Chennai (Madras). After 5 years of full-time studies, followed by years of daily personal practice, she performs in India and Nepal, and now in Europe. She also teaches children at SAYM, the Education Center for Underprivileged Children where she has been living since the age of 4, near Kathmandu, as well as in other schools in the capital.

In addition, she gives workshops for adults, in Nepal, and now in France and Belgium, during which she shares her knowledge with all those who wish to become familiar with this dance but also with its form ‘Natya Yoga’, a sacred tradition of meditation.
Inspired by Nathya yoga and Bharatanatyam dance, this ritualized form of ‘yoga in movement’ gives access to one’s own inner space in a very original and healthy way (balancing, relaxing, aesthetic…). A bit like an ‘Indian Tai Chi’. Laxmi will teach a series of movements that are easy to reproduce at home for, for example, a good morning workout… Open to all, children and adults, dancers as well as simple amateurs, men and women.