Mantram - A Sonic and Visual Journey - ODC Theater

Just off a successful multi-city tour of India, Chitresh Das Dance presents "Mantram" (2021), a sonic and visual journey in India's kathak dance created by Artistic Director Charlotte Moraga with, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "a stunning new score by Alam Khan, son of the late sarod master Ali Akbar Khan." Premiered during the pandemic, Moraga re-explores "Mantram," which celebrates the combination of creative innovation and tradition in North Indian classical kathak dance and North Indian classical music while probing our connections to each other and our planet. Also on this program the Chitresh Das Institute's Youth Company will perform an invocation. "Mantram" is an experimental piece that departs from the traditional storytelling subject matter of kathak dance. Through the concepts of the pancha bhuta, or five elements, "Mantram" utilizes rhythmic footwork, music, expression, and the lyrical and architectural movement of kathak dance to explore how we have become so disconnected from one another and from the planet that is literally burning up around us. How, despite our bodies pulsating the rhythms of the world around us, have we become so disconnected? Moraga explains, "'Mantram' is a collaborative work based on the idea of Resonance, that which resonates within you and without you. It's more about connection than disconnection." "Mantram" is a meditation on our place in the universe at this moment. Moraga adds, "It is said that the first sound in the universe was created by Shiva with his damaru.The power of that sound created the universe. How will we harness our power at this moment in time?" Composer Alam Khan's melodic landscape incorporates traditional and innovative music, weaving in and outside of the raga tradition. Adding to the sonic experience, the dancers create different sounds by dancing on risers of different dimensions to create a landscape of sound and vibration.

Just off a successful multi-city tour of India, Chitresh Das Dance presents "Mantram" \(2021\), a sonic and visual journey in India's kathak dance created by Artistic Director Charlotte Moraga with, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, "a stunning new score by Alam Khan, son of the late sarod master Ali Akbar Khan." Premiered during the pandemic, Moraga re-explores "Mantram," which celebrates the combination of creative innovation and tradition in North Indian classical kathak dance and North Indian classical music while probing our connections to each other and our planet. Also on this program the Chitresh Das Institute's Youth Company will perform an invocation. "Mantram" is an experimental piece that departs from the traditional storytelling subject matter of kathak dance. Through the concepts of the pancha bhuta, or five elements, "Mantram" utilizes rhythmic footwork, music, expression, and the lyrical and architectural movement of kathak dance to explore how we have become so disconnected from one another and from the planet that is literally burning up around us. How, despite our bodies pulsating the rhythms of the world around us, have we become so disconnected? Moraga explains, "'Mantram' is a collaborative work based on the idea of Resonance, that which resonates within you and without you. It's more about connection than disconnection." "Mantram" is a meditation on our place in the universe at this moment. Moraga adds, "It is said that the first sound in the universe was created by Shiva with his damaru.The power of that sound created the universe. How will we harness our power at this moment in time?" Composer Alam Khan's melodic landscape incorporates traditional and innovative music, weaving in and outside of the raga tradition. Adding to the sonic experience, the dancers create different sounds by dancing on risers of different dimensions to create a landscape of sound and vibration.