Saptavarna: Seven Shades of Dance showcased on one stage seven major dance forms of India: Odissi, Bharatnatyam, Kuchupudi, Mohiniyattam, Kathak, Manipuri, and Contemporary. This was hosted by the India Discovery Center (IDC), an organization dedicated to bringing authentic and well researched details on the history and culture of India to US agencies and audiences. To learn more about IDC, please check out their website at https://www.indiadiscoverycenter.org/.

In the spirit of the original intention of the Natya Shastra, this wonderful production took verses from the scriptures and presented them a way that explained the deep philosophy behind the scriptures in a very accessible manner. 

Director Aruna Mohanty, who is also responsible for overall choreography, conceptualized this extraordinary production. One of India’s leading dancers and choreographers, Mohanty has received a number of awards for her work, including the Sangeeta Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Shree Award from the Government of India.

A production of this scale necessarily has a pan-Indian, multicultural, multilingual approach. It was a delightful amalgam of different genres of music, a variety of colorful costumes, and captivating lighting and set design.

The first half of the presentation was dedicated to the Sun. Verses from the scriptures dedicated to the Sun God was interspersed beautifully with Sancharis, that depicted the impact of the Sun on life.  Each dance form used their own dance vocabulary and music to present the dedication to Lord Surya.  The grand finale was the Great God riding on His Chariot to bring light to the world. 

The philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita was the theme for the second half.  Popular verses from the Bhagavad Gita were presented along with Sancharis that expounded the philosophy being presented in the verse. For the verse Karmanye Vadikarasthe, the dancers presented the story of Mahatma Gandhi and his creating the Satyagraha movement. The depiction of the train scene from South Africa where Gandhi ji’s was thrown out from the train was brilliantly presented.  Depiction of scriptural stories of Ravana Mardanam and Dashavataram was quite a highlight of the production. 

This was truly a rare gem of a dance production that one got to witness where the classical and the contemporary were combined in a creative and colorful manner. 

Kudos to the brilliant dancers and choreographers for creating such a brilliant production.