tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021360489770970822024-03-05T23:57:00.289-08:00dance of lifeJaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-9399833894750303832018-05-04T06:55:00.001-07:002018-05-04T06:59:43.350-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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SCULPTURESQUE<br />
<br />
My poetry, my search,<br />
what does the dance do for its meaning,<br />
can I unravel its hidden layers?<br />
Only time will tell..<br />
<br />
I share the first Youtube video,<br />
of my dance-poem, 'Sculpturesque',<br />
danced and narrated by me, Jaya Mehta,<br />
and filmed by the marvellous Shabani Hassanwalia.<br />
<br />
The poem is from my book, 'The Poetic Saree', released by Notion Press, 2018.<br />
It talks of the lovelorn relationship between the dancer and the temple sculpture. Each an inspiration to each other, essential to find the dancing sculpture within.<br />
Hope you enjoy your sculpture self!<br />
Click in the link below to watch the video. And please subscribe if you like it!<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtqbiT6c9JI">Sculpturesque</a></div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-25603242351891235002016-01-21T20:56:00.000-08:002016-01-21T20:56:38.180-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="page_hding2" style="color: #a6121e; font-family: 'Fjord One' !important; font-size: 26px; line-height: 20px; padding: 26px 0px 0px;">The ODISSI Universe<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Odissi’s beautiful form echoes in her name. The roundedness of the O and its meditative sound remind me of the cosmic sound of OM. The rest of the word after O in Odissi is a tongue twister. In hindi and oriya the ‘d’ would be pronounced with its characteristic twisted sound. Culminating in the ‘issi’ the word Odissi seems to free itself of form, flowing like the sea, like forms of nature, forever feminine and curvilinear.<br /><br />Indeed such a beautiful name for the most feminine, sculpturesque, earthy Indian dance that best represents the curves of nature. It is as if Odissi ‘knows’, just like ancient Indian sculptors did, that mother nature exists in curves. In trees and forests, in the waves of the sea and the waxing and waning of the moon. Even in the human body. In its shape of the eye, the grace of the neck, the bend at the waist down to the arch of the feet. Odissi celebrates these curves that exist in the human body, in the entire cosmos and places them in between the axis of the horizontal and vertical. Do our spaces exist only in the horizontal and vertical, or are there infinite divisions of spaces in between, that seem to defy these two dimensions? Odissi smiled at me and exploded with a vocabulary of infinite possibilities of space in Guru Surendra Nath Jena’s style. She flowered like mother nature and every time I danced I felt myself flower, marveling at the feeling of embodying these spaces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">What happens when one moves in Odissi? The body learns to flower and flow in new ways. It finds that movement is not just of the nature of standing, sitting and lying down, but that the human body can burst like a riot of colours onto the canvas of space. One’s body is the paint, the brushstrokes of the artist, and the forms one creates change. Change like the speed of one’s thoughts, like the waves of the sea, forever intangible and timeless. Odissi helped me also experience the nature of time. With her my mind travelled so many time zones in seconds, it was like magic, a wonderful way to be with Krishna or experience the magnificent yogic state of Lord Shiva.<br /><br />And as I refer to Odissi as ‘she’, I know Odissi is all woman. She epitomizes the feminine principle. With all her beauty and <i>shringar</i>, she also has the immense power of the feminine creative source. She is akin to nature in all her curvilinear forms and never afraid to express all her emotions reveling in all the Navarasas. She is so pregnant with meaning and beauty, it is as if she holds within her the seed of all creation. She leads us with her gentle ways to the higher source, as if our meeting was only for a reason, to connect us with the divine.</span></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-76028482205651030072015-10-11T20:56:00.001-07:002015-10-11T20:56:19.567-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">ART IN THEIR HEART</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">published in the Speaking Tree, Times of India,
Oct’2015)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">A trip to a
country rich in cultural experiences is postponed long by a family with small
kids. So when my little ones became old enough to know the difference between
Kathakali and Flamenco, and recognize a painting by Van Gogh or Picasso, I knew
it was time to go to Italy. As a classical dancer from a land so rich in
culture, I wanted to examine just why this powerful religious space was also
reckoned as the cultural capital of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Yet I knew that every
country is so vast as a cultural experience, one cannot do justice to it in a
few weeks. So we zoomed into the Amalfi coast. The exquisite coastal beauty of
the Amalfi coast is much talked about in all travel magazines. As we drove into
the coastal stretch on our taxi ride from Naples, I confess of being a bit
wary. Was this to be like any sunny, beach experience in Europe? How was it any
different from an Antalya or Malaga? The week that followed silenced my inner
critic and replaced it with great admiration for a cultural community so proud
of its heritage. The Amalfi coast had not just natural beauty but also people
so warm and engaging, they knew the art of living, of how to take a pause. They
lived a conscious life, responsible to their natural environment and joyously
celebrating their artistic heritage in their daily lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The Amalfi
coastline is full of green hills, dotted with small villages or towns that
present their own vantage point of the landscape. So if Positano and Praiano
are villages which give you gorgeous,
sunset sea views, Maori and Minori are villages right on the beach, close to
the sea with lovely promenades and cobbled-street towns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">As a contrast,
there are villages high on the hills, like Ravello and Tramonti, world famous
for their own specialties. Ravello is called the city of music, where
international music concerts happen in historic Roman villas. We had the
fortune of attending a ‘String Quartet’, where on their violins, viola and cello
the artistes treated us to pieces composed by the 19<sup>th</sup> c. classical
musician Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Such is their fierce musical pride that
the entire concert note only mentioned the details of Bartholdi’s life and
compositions. The audience only knew the names of the magician-like musicians,
who created waves upon waves of musical delight for our ears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrmegoivFLvDoQG8ZbOZF9apWFc_4DOHRgFEJuWuGsjUxW48hbjh7XdI8TIX8qqOJg8dQ2VbuCdyb93FWfIo_XTHzbUnPeskW9FbPCnlY36ybCMHMrx76KMaFNOgovs5kr0N3PKzBz3X8/s1600/ravello-main-462x346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrmegoivFLvDoQG8ZbOZF9apWFc_4DOHRgFEJuWuGsjUxW48hbjh7XdI8TIX8qqOJg8dQ2VbuCdyb93FWfIo_XTHzbUnPeskW9FbPCnlY36ybCMHMrx76KMaFNOgovs5kr0N3PKzBz3X8/s320/ravello-main-462x346.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Ravello has such
concerts in historic settings all through summer and even hosts a magical
sunrise concert in an open-air stage that is the most breathtaking, ocean-overlooking,
mountain- perched experience of music possible. Nature becomes the perfect
setting for a spectacular moment created by artistes who have dedicated their
whole life to an instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Tramonti in the
hills, is the name for a village famous for its wines. ‘Tramonti’ in Italian is
the area between the mountains, and this village produces the most remarkable
full-bodied wine in Italy. Apart from the numerous grape orchards seen all over
Amalfi mountains, is the ubiquitous presence of the lemon tree. In every Amalfi
town and village, and even inside hotels there are lemon groves in full
blossom. Surrounded by so many lemons, hanging over our heads in a balcony
overlooking the sea, I found myself humming ‘the Lemon Tree’ song by the group
Crowded House! These big, luminous yellow lemons have pervaded the Amalfi
landscape and culture such that there is beautiful representation of them everywhere
: in endless ceramics, lemon ice-cream and the famous Amalfi limoncello!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But more than
these tactile, visual moments was a hidden gem-like quality about the Amalfi
coast : how everyone celebrated the arts and rejoiced in every form of it!
While walking to the beach, we came upon an old tower by the sea, and went up
to find the artist Paolo Sandulli working in it as his studio. From there he
painted and sculpted the sea life and the beautiful coved beach of Marina di
Praia. We walked back to the hotel with a painting of the beach, and my son was
thrilled that the artiste wrote a special note for him in his catalogue. The
artiste in the tower, will always be a special memory for us, a coming together
of history and art!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdm5afRbVbZWME6LxOAByyop6VRliJPq2NM8EaF0BctIAVtx4XDzuHwj0KOpJeo2Xt8CY3gFoeBmzlWdzeYVCNzj1yx5UB3ICBjTG3XbQEhilD8m0TL8LQ2RqyBg78kDRSvsTlxA2Txqk/s1600/paolo+studio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdm5afRbVbZWME6LxOAByyop6VRliJPq2NM8EaF0BctIAVtx4XDzuHwj0KOpJeo2Xt8CY3gFoeBmzlWdzeYVCNzj1yx5UB3ICBjTG3XbQEhilD8m0TL8LQ2RqyBg78kDRSvsTlxA2Txqk/s320/paolo+studio.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In Italy as well
as the Amalfi coast there are many such rich moments: where the taxi drivers
describe their coastal villages like a history professor, rich with anecdotes
and stories; where every town has a space where they organize musical concerts
for all, to the extent that they even have a special city of music! Children
are not charged in many historic sites like Pompeii, to encourage them to
explore their history through architecture, and even the airport in Rome is
named after their cultural icon Leonardo di Vinci and not any recent political
figure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> For what is art, but a sensitivity towards our environment, a higher
level of consciousness, where nature appears more alive than ever, and pervades
every cell of our being. In such moments iconic musicians like Richard Wagner
created symphonies in Ravello and geniuses like Leonardo di Vinci found ideas
about the universe appearing on to his sketchbook. Artistes create from their
world of ideas in not just beautiful surroundings, but a rich social climate
where the community takes pride in their ideas as their own. They know very
well that artistes and scientists are forever engaging with the mysteries of
the universe. Italy, especially the Amalfi coast, is a space which is inspired
in this respect, forever celebrating their identity, as one with all the arts
and artistes that reside in it. </span></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-5567850818779695932015-05-06T06:15:00.000-07:002015-05-06T06:15:06.773-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Baul of Joy </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEC2_6nmH-VnZnGhWy8h-XaBIKg3y9oZ9CmjXpsGpbTGnPVDno4PtSoxzfDWZ4AABY-hKUh1p1eT6eEw1bLm-o-V3QtyImdLFlVxDg1aSTmDH7m7gH4xLY2Il8Z9TT6fjqWtxi5yKz9k/s1600/IMG_8895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEC2_6nmH-VnZnGhWy8h-XaBIKg3y9oZ9CmjXpsGpbTGnPVDno4PtSoxzfDWZ4AABY-hKUh1p1eT6eEw1bLm-o-V3QtyImdLFlVxDg1aSTmDH7m7gH4xLY2Il8Z9TT6fjqWtxi5yKz9k/s1600/IMG_8895.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The last post of Sama and Sangeet, was a thought that beautifully flows into this post. A thread of continuity that reminds me of the universal need to find the spiritual self in all forms of art. We had the rasa-soaked oppurtunity to invite home Baul singers from Bengal to play their devotional songs from our earthy, folk roots. It feels to me like folk culture of our country is really connected with the deeper rhythms of the universe, sacred yet personal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So this evening came up, and the Baul singers in their simplicity and unaffected manner, sang their way into the heart of every individual gathered there. Dressed in Saffron like yogis, they sang mysterious melodies from deep layers of time. Their philosophical songs took us deep into a musical forest and showed us the glowing fireflies on every tree. Each light lit up the flame in our hearts brighter and deeper, till everything dissolved into nothing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The evening was a live understanding of Bauls as spiritual fakirs quite like the Sufi saints. The Bauls believe in a state of 'free mind', not 'no mind', as one has to live in the world with all its worldly duties. And this word Baul derives from the bengali words '<i>Vatul</i>'(mad) or '<i>Vyakul</i>'(restless). The Bauls sang with their quest and made it joyous, blissful and a very altered state of being. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To the Bauls we are all gifts of divine power and the body is a temple. Music and dance are the p</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ath to connect to that power. Their philosophy is '<i>Deha Tattva</i>' , i.e. spirituality of the body. It is indeed beautiful to have spiritual practices in our Indian tradition that completely bring together the physical and spiritual planes in a state of deep union. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Their instruments are nature-rich : the percussion instrument being the <i>khol</i>, made entirely of mud. It had to be made wet with water for the earth in it to sing. The string instrument <i>Dotara</i> was a beautiful fret-less instrument that sang each note with the human voice. And the unique string instrument <i>Ananda- lahiri</i>, had strings that were pulled out of a small, open dhol and strummed with a large stone pick. <i>Ananda lahiri</i> means waves of bliss, that is a befitting name for Baul Sangeet as it really spreads bliss with its light of awareness. a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">glimpse of their waves of bliss:</span><br />
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-20619052107528514922015-04-25T22:15:00.000-07:002015-04-25T22:15:23.219-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">Of sangeet and sama </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUurB-YyNLVK-thAQ3wsQ2wtkvz__JdOge-Fs6vgt7fh3mxROAs11Vy23pV13JTXJ2nS_anWRLOsZ-ghCzrAUnsh9Lg0G-on9scH42keqRfDoUdeRCcTWVIDDxX8t-NBs2dJgYIy0yAws/s1600/IMG_8278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUurB-YyNLVK-thAQ3wsQ2wtkvz__JdOge-Fs6vgt7fh3mxROAs11Vy23pV13JTXJ2nS_anWRLOsZ-ghCzrAUnsh9Lg0G-on9scH42keqRfDoUdeRCcTWVIDDxX8t-NBs2dJgYIy0yAws/s1600/IMG_8278.JPG" height="200" width="149" /></a>In the process of teaching my son, I came up on the definition of '<i>sangeet</i>' in Indian classical music. It said that <i>sangeet </i>consists of the coming together of <i>gayan</i>(vocal), <i>vadan(</i>instrumental music) and <i>nritya</i>(dance). It amazed me to find dance there in the middle of defining music. In common man terms, heavily influenced by the western notions, 'music' and 'dance' are two connected yet seperate defintions of art forms. Then '<i>sangeet</i>' sounded like a novel concept, where all three arts came together!<br />
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And 'sangeet' as my dance Guru explained was something very dear to God, a means of <i>aaradhna</i>, reaching closer to God. In <i>aaradhna</i>, as a prayer, all these forms of expression came together to reach out to God. How easily this idea has been understood in not just Indian classical traditions, bhakti sangeet and also the Sufi tradition of sama, where divinity is powerfully experienced through these mediums. The practice and the understanding of this path, unlocks the self to an unlimited state of being, where divinity is one strong presence.<br />
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One such new space I discovered lately is the shrine of the reknowned Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. In a walk into Mehrauli village, just behind my locality of Vasant Kunj, lies this powerful space of divinity. The shrine of one of the four of the most important Sufi saints in India. Bakhtiar Kaki was the saint for whom, a sulphur water baoli (step well) was created by the emperor Iltutmish , and the last mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar left a little patch of grass where he wanted to be buried, near his spiritual guru Bakhtiar Kaki's shrine. Unfortunately, the British exiled him to Burma and he was not meant to enjoy that privilege. Till date, a month before the Urs festival, sufis from all over India congregate first at Bakhtiar Kaki's shrine for a three day festival. It is only after paying their respect there that they head towards Ajmer, for the shrine of khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.<br />
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The Sufi mystic Bakhtiar Kaki was known for his love for the Sama mehfils and organised or attended them regularly.<br />
It is interesting to note that his last few days were closely connected to a sema he experienced. At the sema he heard the following verses:<br />
<i>" Those who are slain by the dagger of surrender, </i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyOp8OfgVOSOOuSJ8LrwBUOnX3DSpSTRagNUy9Qv_ktpgZNod6W1uDkE-7KTBWdFtHr1PXUihr5yWm6WI14CW-ltH42CMetCWHxXbxbVPcJYson5Cie0Zvjo84XC5asSnHOu_JbBBtXA/s1600/bakhtiar+kaki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyOp8OfgVOSOOuSJ8LrwBUOnX3DSpSTRagNUy9Qv_ktpgZNod6W1uDkE-7KTBWdFtHr1PXUihr5yWm6WI14CW-ltH42CMetCWHxXbxbVPcJYson5Cie0Zvjo84XC5asSnHOu_JbBBtXA/s1600/bakhtiar+kaki.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><i>Receive every moment a new life from the unseen."</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2V5ZV5E4QhC1-TjZg0ak4mbKbzezzJL9SYpAPdZrF_yoxf2alCH7G6UmIqb3F5B70F4O1ZNEO65pTZ5yPhTnuuv9yYmwsfBqTCVbXgUkPUJ3DGZfQ7Jtb7u3ctoKbt3WVjS_kIfHfcQ/s1600/bakhtiar+kaki1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2V5ZV5E4QhC1-TjZg0ak4mbKbzezzJL9SYpAPdZrF_yoxf2alCH7G6UmIqb3F5B70F4O1ZNEO65pTZ5yPhTnuuv9yYmwsfBqTCVbXgUkPUJ3DGZfQ7Jtb7u3ctoKbt3WVjS_kIfHfcQ/s1600/bakhtiar+kaki1.jpg" height="200" width="180" /></a>Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki was so overcome and enraptured by these verses that he fainted away. He died four days later while still in that state of ecstasy.<br />
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photos credit: Imtiaz khan</div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-38561326546911330172015-04-19T23:37:00.000-07:002015-04-19T23:37:17.676-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Dance of Trees -2</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIa3iGSbf23AuLC_EUrWrGWtng4st-LAhFgcMDsAmKdmUlnvuZWv69A_kWJCAj7Y5QqE1l6lnDlxk1bwtZXghuti6NV3YBjtrxXaddM8t81-ZvJRaM_D8yoKiFjG44tegnNKBQIQKDms/s1600/mango+tree+flowering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmIa3iGSbf23AuLC_EUrWrGWtng4st-LAhFgcMDsAmKdmUlnvuZWv69A_kWJCAj7Y5QqE1l6lnDlxk1bwtZXghuti6NV3YBjtrxXaddM8t81-ZvJRaM_D8yoKiFjG44tegnNKBQIQKDms/s1600/mango+tree+flowering.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhib98GaOhaFIGlKMRqmw_R_SpNldB-tqp3U7fOFKl_zsWui08_-URXyWn2tKlh81S8w7NXxq-GBjoeIg-Dkgd9HtQpHualikCkKoXi8ZPqmPrfcB0KJi-KGZNAmzbRxzaqFvM9qTQrXdU/s1600/radha+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhib98GaOhaFIGlKMRqmw_R_SpNldB-tqp3U7fOFKl_zsWui08_-URXyWn2tKlh81S8w7NXxq-GBjoeIg-Dkgd9HtQpHualikCkKoXi8ZPqmPrfcB0KJi-KGZNAmzbRxzaqFvM9qTQrXdU/s1600/radha+1.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is the dance of trees, their poetry that inspired my
sister Swaati and me to create a dance moment on ‘trees in Indian classical
dance’. We danced dances where the trees set the mood -</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mango tree was the minister of </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">vasant ritu</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, as the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">koel </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">came to sing on it, and its fruit and blossoms spread a rich
fragrance. In this environment on a full moon night, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">sakhi </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">urges Radha to go meet Krishna near the banks of the Yamuna river. No mango tree has looked the same to me ever since I learnt this dance. In spring I go up and smell the leaves and blossoms of every mango tree I find, wondering when the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">koel</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> bird will come and enjoy its </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">rasa</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In another dance, the Jamun tree became the playground for Krishna
and his friends to relish jamuns while climbing its branches and shaking every
branch with merry abandon. As they climb trees and feast on the jamun, Krishna sees Radha coming, and discreetly motions to her to meet near the river. Full of joy, pranks and secret meetings, this mood of Radha-Krishna is truly celebrated in the Jamun tree setting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In another jewel like dance by Guru Surendra Nath
Jena called ‘<i>Brahm Maya</i>’ , the
universe is compared to an inverted tree. This philosophy of the Upanishads,
reminds us that the world is an inverted tree, and as we enjoy the fruits and
flowers, the roots of this tree are up above, connected with the real divine
world. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Odissi to me, is this beautiful tree that connects the
realms of the earthly and spiritual, delighting in both, celebrating the body
and the spirit, finding a lit-up union of the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">bhogi </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">and the </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">yogi</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
within. </span></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-61983590196585499682015-04-19T23:36:00.001-07:002015-04-19T23:36:54.446-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Dance of Trees<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Trees mean so many things to different people. To me trees
have always danced. Dying to dance, despite their roots, they sway from their
upper torso. With the slightest wispy wind they sway. Wilder the wind, they
rock with abandon, never tired of their dance with the universe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Odissi body is quite like a dancing tree. The lower body
is firm and fixed, mountain-like and rooted. The upper body in Odissi, sways
like a happy tree in the wind. The body sways from side to side, the chest
moving with grace and delicacy. Odissi refrains from large, assertive
movements. Its gestures are close to the body, containing its energies within.
The movement of the wind in the trees is also fine and delicate. Sometimes fine
and delicate, it is almost unnoticeable, creating a wispy sound. The stronger
the wind, the tree-dance has more abandon – the power of the vibrant emotions
of Odissi. The tree dances as the wind sings, and dances to express its fullest
self.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Trees in Delhi are as vibrant as the moods of the many <i>ritus</i> or seasons that exist here. The
trees of Delhi remind of an American autumn in spring, with the Pilkhal shedding reddish
brown leaves like the American maple leaves. The Semal tree also bursts vibrant red with
its big flowers, announcing that its time for Holi. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0L1ASp_n9CxNHgZh3nLJBN6mWYytYaSsREuaqhMgzQk3tk02S6yJS-7pt5TnImw8zbJmA9EEIf0VNX-evON4HhCwcg60Vq2QCzBWc9sogVUnElUjJMz2RZtV9s2bW0rToIvy4Z1qCReo/s1600/harshringaar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0L1ASp_n9CxNHgZh3nLJBN6mWYytYaSsREuaqhMgzQk3tk02S6yJS-7pt5TnImw8zbJmA9EEIf0VNX-evON4HhCwcg60Vq2QCzBWc9sogVUnElUjJMz2RZtV9s2bW0rToIvy4Z1qCReo/s1600/harshringaar.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Childhood memories of the
Harshringaar blossoming meant that it was Durga Puja time soon. In one such
tree moment, a Harshringaar gave me a lovely surprise – I woke up to see the
car parked under the tree to be completely covered in tiny star-like white and
orange flowers. It was nature’s installation-art moment, and we giggled away as we shared this
beautiful transformation of the mundane. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Delhi’s Amaltaas tree is also quite like a trickster.
Gorgeous yellow blossoms that make a guest appearance only in May, shine
splendidly in bloom. As a child I have memories of walking down a road lined on
two sides by only Amaltaas trees – in the searing heat of summer, I walked
through an illusion of a cool, yellow heaven, surrounded by yellow bliss! Could
colour play such an illusion which felt both cool and warm? A delight where
one’s body and heart experienced strange sensations quite at odds with each
other? <o:p></o:p><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Nature’s display of art mesmerizes, and as human beings, artistes simply aspire to spin the mysteries of the universe at their individual level : to paint and dance with all the colours of their own divinity.</span></span><br />
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-77625760705801814872015-04-16T23:47:00.002-07:002015-04-17T03:01:24.493-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yogini within</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I first encountered the idea of a yogini at the Chausath
Yogini temple in Orissa. It is a mysterious space, a shrine with 64 yoginis in
sculpture, and no roof overhead this circular temple. It is a space which is
powerful and not many are brave enough to come there in the dark. I loved the
yoginis, their many forms, sometimes with animal heads and qualities, decorated
and </span><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">bejeweled</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, a symphony of energies of the universe. A strange connection and
attraction existed between us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A Yogini is said to be a ‘woman in union with the Self’.
Someone once asked me if I think there is a yogini within me? It is like asking
if I am the particulars that define me or the universal that cannot be defined?
It is through spiritual practices that the yogini within soars outward. She
cannot be engaged with through conscious effort, she flowers when she intends
to. The soaring and blossoming of the spirit, a richness of the self, which
signals the Yogini within as she travels light years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is with Odissi that I
first experienced time-travel, light years of travel and back in few moments of
time. A need to go back every day to a deeper world, the flight of the yogini,
her spiritual forest where jewels sparkle on every tree. Every time she travelled,
she found another gem of life, sometimes earthly, sometimes <i>alokik</i>. Like all travels, after all such
moments there is a return home to the
temple in the heart where the Yogini resides, rich, resplendent and all lit-up.
In her <i>garba griha</i>, the inner
sanctum, all spaces are fragrant, pious and blossoming with inner flowers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was younger I needed a few hours of riyaaz everyday and after riyaaz my mind disconnected
to engage with domestic duties. It seemed an odd kind of disconnect, a switch
on and off. Our Odissi Guru, late Surendra Nath Jena had said that the
important thing was to do all our householder tasks, but keep the mind one with
God. As a mother of two babies, I wondered if it was actually possible?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Part of the beautiful process of dancing Odissi rhythms has
been its systematic work on my soul. Vedic Chanting connected my past, present
and future with this journey. And learning music has unlocked many locks
further. Opening up to the energies of the universe, I find the Yogini within.
As I connected with my own divinity, many energies of the universe connected
with me over time. Today, as my spiritual dialogue deepens, yet floats like a wispy
cloud, or a child at play, I see so much beauty in utter simplicity and spontaneity
in every thread woven into the quilt of nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-2640097031470571812015-04-09T02:31:00.000-07:002015-04-09T02:34:27.570-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sculpturesque</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whenever I visited any ancient temples with beautiful sculptures I felt a strange sense of excitement as well as<i> </i>a strange <i>deja vu</i>, as if I had some connection with these sculptures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In my last visit to Orissa, it was as if the temple sculptures at the Chausath Yogini temple (in a remote field in a village) called out to me," Why was I coming to meet them after so long? Why don't you come more often? Have you forgotten us, our beautiful connection?" I remembered how these sculptures were what I wanted to experience in my body, and Odissi meant to me the exploration of the sculptures inside my body. Maybe I was a sculptor in one of these temples in the medieval times, carving out beautiful body-scapes of frozen moments in time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this life, as sculptures, dance and frozen moments of time run parallel through my being, I write my ode to the sculpturesque-ness of Odissi:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYC3BRS0wJfikNxqTE5Anw4TeUxjZzCXLM7wnz9wgU1t9tRxtcw1rHeYLsUTSMa1ysMfZxl8iMdsMJt_vTk115RlXLRjk83NsliW-w20Sd9fz4yToP-1gwJ16ACZKBLlg6KilSDLaJG6g/s1600/image-(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYC3BRS0wJfikNxqTE5Anw4TeUxjZzCXLM7wnz9wgU1t9tRxtcw1rHeYLsUTSMa1ysMfZxl8iMdsMJt_vTk115RlXLRjk83NsliW-w20Sd9fz4yToP-1gwJ16ACZKBLlg6KilSDLaJG6g/s1600/image-(1).jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sculptures of my being,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">danced in my body,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Odissi it was to be,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">a dance of the waves of the sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A fullness of being,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">joyous curves,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the langorous arms,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">like creepers of love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The honey-sweet <i>shringaar</i>,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">of mischievious <i>kamarbands</i>,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">heavy, pregnant anklets,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">serpentine necklaces that never end.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhks30tC5uPuB_vZrzFjsFg8cSQRBGAldnGJK8IRCY3Mpc4QcfDooxsukr6d-QM6QkTuwgD7j0aIp9kpPFKJBQALGeF3V6xFG87cB4LcPoXINFC-inshOfh1tIAGE40o8I5bHn7x1zjyMM/s1600/image-(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhks30tC5uPuB_vZrzFjsFg8cSQRBGAldnGJK8IRCY3Mpc4QcfDooxsukr6d-QM6QkTuwgD7j0aIp9kpPFKJBQALGeF3V6xFG87cB4LcPoXINFC-inshOfh1tIAGE40o8I5bHn7x1zjyMM/s1600/image-(2).jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sculpturesque arrived,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and became my pulse,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">became my <i>riyaaz</i>,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">as the fabric of me came together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I found the dance of life,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the shape of my soul,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">my sculpturesque lines,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">my singing curves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sculpturesque and sculpture,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">face each other with the beats of time,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">are we artistic inspiration,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">or just poems that reside in each other's hearts?</span></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-91207984020967946312015-04-05T21:59:00.002-07:002015-04-05T23:06:52.000-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIT-yK0sQqAo6aum0ZFlIAxhTFe6F2FzdxEFaLRAWsAiuLDLX6kCowrNuFyhdda9j9Qcz1iIeyhKPLh7-ANAsxh8VHKSqWTjMbJiz6kMDfD89wQ753L6R2tt26wMq3tWU_kToDMGuDDtU/s1600/IMG_6922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIT-yK0sQqAo6aum0ZFlIAxhTFe6F2FzdxEFaLRAWsAiuLDLX6kCowrNuFyhdda9j9Qcz1iIeyhKPLh7-ANAsxh8VHKSqWTjMbJiz6kMDfD89wQ753L6R2tt26wMq3tWU_kToDMGuDDtU/s1600/IMG_6922.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Sense of time </span><br />
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A dancer is always seeking Shiva, and his sense of time. Dances feel like time-containers and sometimes like time-currencies. Encapsulating the universe and giving an 'alokik', divine moment.<br />
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Sometimes in an artiste's work one can feel like an altered sense of time, that transfers to us and we experience strong currents of the river of time.<br />
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The sixth sense that dawns after the 5 senses is the sense of time. Manifesting like lord Shiva's damru, it's <i>naad</i> resonates in one's being. For some the entire universe resonates with his damru, and every sound is this sense of time. It is a time altering moment to even play a damru: hear it's sound unite the fragments of our brain in a split second.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75Hl6RIq1-aP00RgpL_NJd86pKOjZEcW3cj4JRqEHszLfxBB6zbBbv39GQuLW2Qrybw_0yBoAn7q6e4jvu_oz0UOKLNnFCnJYIRioavvcA851idRj85Eb2urLExhm4jemv0Jbwmi1_28/s1600/shiva+damru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75Hl6RIq1-aP00RgpL_NJd86pKOjZEcW3cj4JRqEHszLfxBB6zbBbv39GQuLW2Qrybw_0yBoAn7q6e4jvu_oz0UOKLNnFCnJYIRioavvcA851idRj85Eb2urLExhm4jemv0Jbwmi1_28/s1600/shiva+damru.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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The world of Maya gives us an illusory sense of time. Once one can hear time clearly, one is open and aware of many currents of time: in a dance or music piece in which time moves slow, fast or in multiple layers at once. And that perfect creation of art where time stands still, in a deep state of timelessness.<br />
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All art is a deep inquiry into the self:<br />
<br />
"I want to meet myself,<br />
how long would it take?<br />
At that turn,<br />
in that moment of time,<br />
lay Art,<br />
a masterpiece.<br />
Waves of Art and Life,<br />
churned in the cosmic ocean,<br />
and there came about Me,<br />
the pot of immortal life..."</div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-49625636849868808072015-04-05T00:25:00.000-07:002015-04-08T19:13:38.084-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The saree chronicles</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
Back to summer with the most beautiful garment of our country. Sadly ignored by young Indian women rushing to Zara or losing themselves in the masculinity of jeans, Saree for me is THE marker of myself. My love of being Indian, wearing colourful fabric from our states, with lovely colour contrasts and patterns, cotton that breathes and sings on the body, that lets air caress the skin and rejoice in the feminity of the body: the saree is poetic about all these and more.<br />
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In Odissi I learnt to feel the joy of the Saree when it billows around my curves and expresses the feminity of my body. With the daily poems that my sarees and me create, sometimes we experience love, joy, myriad moods, sculptural corners of being and the care with which someone made this gift for me. To think that a craftsman-artiste in Orissa or Bengal sat and wove these patterns on his handloom, never knowing the joy he creates for me. New to the love-poems these weavers have sent to me is the kachcha-yellow dhoti meant for pandits in Varanasi. I fell in love with it as it sang songs to me with its yellowness and multiple colours on the border. As these borders travel across the length and breadth of me, I know that whether on a pandit, dancer or any woman, the Saree is sheer poetry, spiritual and sacred as the sculptures of an ancient temple.<img src="webkit-fake-url://19A10B6B-ED29-4160-9BAD-D7FA1DF4E181/imagejpeg" /><br />
<img src="webkit-fake-url://4F76C0F1-EC4E-4DCD-AB21-30B46E6FD71D/imagejpeg" /><br />
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-44147845416930675402015-03-30T18:59:00.001-07:002015-04-05T22:07:41.701-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJcwUVS-lBQfD5-SJcFc16y7mqyAOUaAHYHLGHa1_pmNtHetMvdkVfjGu4X-5MSAToNDqqhzFmi_9tR9zJ_svHGVrGYV93RFGqA7z8_7XMBeiTTcWT2ft8aUmRgnIS7gaKEybh-Y7p_s/s1600/IMG_3767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJcwUVS-lBQfD5-SJcFc16y7mqyAOUaAHYHLGHa1_pmNtHetMvdkVfjGu4X-5MSAToNDqqhzFmi_9tR9zJ_svHGVrGYV93RFGqA7z8_7XMBeiTTcWT2ft8aUmRgnIS7gaKEybh-Y7p_s/s1600/IMG_3767.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rumi Within </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sometimes for an artiste, the elephant like artistic stirring within, with its stunning force of realization, gives way to a gentler stirring that feels like the Rumi within. Rumi, the famous poet of the 13th c, found poetry within and a oneness with the universe, on a series of events in life. Each of us has a Rumi within, and a Rumi-ness that flowers with age, and enjoys a deep, moving, creative space within. Quite like the Bhakti poetry of India in the 12th.c, this inner space finds an experience of one's soul and an altered state of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When this manifests in the outer world it takes the form of a beautiful poem of Rumi, or a starry night painting of Van Gogh or a moving Odissi dance by a Guru like Guru Surendra Nath Jena. These jewel like works of art we enjoy, are simply the tip of the iceberg. The mountain of jewels lies within the heart of the artiste, whose inner state of being is resplendent and fiercely glowing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This 'tejas', spark of being is beautiful, as oneness with the entire universe seeps in. Can one be fiercely illuminated yet flowing in the river of life with the entire cosmos? The answer is in the heart of every artiste, and the artiste in the heart of every person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I understand the Rumi within, and enjoy my Rumi-ness, I look back at moments in Turkey few years back. When in Capadoccia, I went to experience the dance of the whirling dervishes, their mystical dance called the 'sama'. It is the sufi way of experiencing mystical union with the universe through sound and movement. The images seem to sing and dance of the Rumi within us all...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqA3NwDaiiVqfyeihV15CyiwNAY9AUGABtLG0cwUR3u6foZez4b-kGnynIFVN4zL9yDZBdgMmSNvrrIe4F7cmub84Md6aRqfnP8Aj-C-SQ8tsSw1gVQ-u-Jj0-CXNg68jfr1IueHMXQ0/s1600/IMG_3765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifqA3NwDaiiVqfyeihV15CyiwNAY9AUGABtLG0cwUR3u6foZez4b-kGnynIFVN4zL9yDZBdgMmSNvrrIe4F7cmub84Md6aRqfnP8Aj-C-SQ8tsSw1gVQ-u-Jj0-CXNg68jfr1IueHMXQ0/s1600/IMG_3765.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-8433806263840707412015-03-22T22:05:00.000-07:002015-03-24T03:09:59.208-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Floral Notes</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flowers are
secret messengers of nature. Even the most busy bees halt for a moment to feel
their beauty: the richness of their colours, the lingering fragrance and the
moods they evoke. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PmPkazoUMxtzk2GieokQdCpVg-L23NA40I2c0eHaveW8WmvPUibtHyEkYjmGlJi1MwehX-KfJuANqiwSJFlGbcYFxxDeRC14TtmMBvT9vt5atzzOIqULFPzEojyj8GVtiyqLiTJlssI/s1600/IMG_6603+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PmPkazoUMxtzk2GieokQdCpVg-L23NA40I2c0eHaveW8WmvPUibtHyEkYjmGlJi1MwehX-KfJuANqiwSJFlGbcYFxxDeRC14TtmMBvT9vt5atzzOIqULFPzEojyj8GVtiyqLiTJlssI/s1600/IMG_6603+copy.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The <i>malaya sameere</i>
(gentle breeze) of <i>vasant ritu</i> brings
the fragrance of spring flowers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the <i>sahridaya</i> individual, the flowers seem
to sing songs, that make us enjoy all of nature, the leaves, trees, grass and
the wind in a fleeting moment and space. These beautiful quicksilver-like
moments are precious, arrive from the middle of nowhere, and drench us in
oneness with the universe. It only takes a beautiful flower to hold our wrists
and gently make us play with nature.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1YXZUMcfcy4AgHvKqCrYz2SLQuqji0-e-bi6cq3ZgA4anPlI3PTTCgZnMo6W7CqQ6R4zOyysu75yVZAjIoxaWo6ghfUKItK3j_G-Sho34jrbfQYxap9jFMtB_HKP9s228Z9PoSJUZNk/s1600/odissi-hairdo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1YXZUMcfcy4AgHvKqCrYz2SLQuqji0-e-bi6cq3ZgA4anPlI3PTTCgZnMo6W7CqQ6R4zOyysu75yVZAjIoxaWo6ghfUKItK3j_G-Sho34jrbfQYxap9jFMtB_HKP9s228Z9PoSJUZNk/s1600/odissi-hairdo.jpg" height="317" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then there
are lovely floral notes in Odissi that create a kaleidoscopic world of associations. Floral shapes in mudras, the dancer’s
silver jewellery shaped like flowers, the shola flower buds in the Odissi
dancer’s head dress – all present the floweriness of Odissi. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXFh7YbZA1N7yqzfNzCcM5zz_yNlI9ASVrfwMfDzumDzU2Ivs8ZlxfjDzFRauMnlD1Ig698bAIDoIpmRvL8ZpbqMfrZOJFPmeiFLHmdc9sxXscCthQn1EMgHZr2YeU-2b6iRrkYdH4OKY/s1600/dancer-ornaments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXFh7YbZA1N7yqzfNzCcM5zz_yNlI9ASVrfwMfDzumDzU2Ivs8ZlxfjDzFRauMnlD1Ig698bAIDoIpmRvL8ZpbqMfrZOJFPmeiFLHmdc9sxXscCthQn1EMgHZr2YeU-2b6iRrkYdH4OKY/s1600/dancer-ornaments.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Odissi
bindi is also shaped like a beautiful, big, blossoming flower. It has a big red
circular bindi in the middle with little white dots around it. On the forehead
of any child or woman, this unique flower blossom makes her look radiant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In many
Odissi abhinaya, Radha is swayed by flowers : fragrant mango tree blossoms
whose fragrance remind her of Krishna waiting in the mango orchard by the banks of Yamuna river. The
flowers of these dance moments seem to add fragrance to many such moments, and one’s
Radha-ness is enriched forever.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The dancer
offers many flowers of devotion (<i>shraddha-suman</i>)
to her <i>aaradhya</i> : the lotus-eyed
Vishnu or Shiva, the lord white as jasmine. Radha is also compared by her sakhi
to a blooming lotus, beautiful both from outside and within. There seems to be
a flower in the heart of every dance, for nature’s every colour, setting and
mood.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-28772393405010008172015-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:002015-04-05T22:06:05.305-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Mad elephant and Me - conversations</span><br />
<br />
All art feels a deep connection with the self. It is not simply a skill or an art form, but the experience of one's being. The heights one travels within, the life of a movement, it's vital breath, the pulse of life.<br />
<br />
Is this vitality of being Art? A recognition of the raging elephant with the lotus in his trunk.<br />
The soul feels like a mad elephant within the body's cage, lusts to life outside, yet more aware of it's being. Sometimes an artiste loses touch with this being within. The elephant's sounds are drowned in the drone of daily life.<br />
<img src="webkit-fake-url://C143D4CB-E708-42EF-ACBD-9A5EC5FCE32E/imagejpeg" /><br />
<img src="webkit-fake-url://B3370D6A-B132-4987-B14D-131B2B3E6611/imagejpeg" /><br />
<br />
In a second of release, a life-altering moment, the elephant escapes and tramples all the vegetation around. "I look at its sheer size and force and wonder, how come I never saw it before? Yet now I remember, the faint sounds I heard and ignored, the vibrations within, that I turned into movements in dance. This mad elephant rages now and takes over the world, my being, within and without. I see it's skin, tusks, trunks and feet, it's beautiful grey and rough skin, how warm and real it feels. So beautiful, he reminds me of the elephant who was a devotee of Vishnu, possessed yet serene.<br />
<br />
The elephant is me, the life of my life, the stirrings within. The discovery of myself. Why am I an artiste? Because I guess I am. I exist. I pulsate with the universe to dissolve like the waxing, waning moon.<br />
<br />
The mad elephant has seen its reflection, it's insane with joy, it was waiting for that point of release. Within one moment, it found itself forever and ever."<br />
<br />
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-90316979463180103352015-03-16T03:21:00.001-07:002015-03-16T03:25:05.838-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dancing Saree</span><br />
<img class="_1_uo img" data-reactid=".a.1:$photo_556529944449591.0.0.0" src="https://fbcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-0/p403x403/1016475_556529944449591_8569951030327317529_n.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=28df60168ca180c5fb0e49146818d23b&oe=55868891&__gda__=1438430947_5650e7904b1763c62172be549703faa4" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; height: 445.36082474226873px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 300px;" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img class="_1_uo img" data-reactid=".a.1:$photo_556529904449595.0.0.0" src="https://fbcdn-photos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-0/s600x600/10418351_556529904449595_2019728257306368685_n.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=c9840f7648b5ffdf3bd1532b34fad679&oe=55B305E7&__gda__=1433800960_aae5e35b1348e1f1cd676c7599678a0c" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; height: 400px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 300px;" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The saree is a beautiful feeling wrapped up as a garment on our being.</span><br />
<br />
It completes me in a way that art does. Art is not just as a form of expression, but an experience of completeness. As one long stretch of six yards, the saree is one whole being.<br />
<br />
Not cut into bits and parts, we wear it whole as a dance costume. Instead of a stitched costume, we tie it beautifully around the dancing body. The blossoming drape of the saree, flows with the curves in odissi and it's joyous rhythm. In the manner of tying the saree costume between the legs, it reveals the shape of the negative space between the legs, as beautiful as the entire form of the dancing pose.<br />
<br />
Before one knows it, the saree seeps into one's life. The heart wants to wear the saree as an inseparable part of one's daily life, feeling the intense love and comfort the body feels for it. It is as if the body fell in love with the saree, and the heart rejoices in its feeling of oneness when together.<br />
<br />
Saree and Me<br />
<br />
Silly saree days,<br />
they wrap me up,<br />
in giddying fabric,<br />
and giggly borders.<br />
<br />
Tracing my contours,<br />
the borders travel,<br />
across the length and breadth of me,<br />
a journey into the center of my earth.<br />
<br />
A frangipani center,<br />
white and yellow inside,<br />
ripe in abundance,<br />
melting with its fragrance.<br />
<br />
My saree is upto tricks,<br />
it chats with my bindi,<br />
together with the bangles,<br />
I know not what they plan.<br />
<br />
As colours melt into sound,<br />
as a tinkle becomes a line,<br />
patterns swirl around,<br />
to drown the depths of me.<br />
<br />
Is it the festive season,<br />
or the festive heart,<br />
or just the tuberose's fragrance,<br />
that wraps me up in silly saree days...<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-46183009765948701732015-03-13T03:35:00.000-07:002015-03-14T04:42:14.953-07:00Shared spaces<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dance has been a continuous process of sharing for me. Sharing an art form, yet more so sharing energies, spaces, a spiritual tool and moments of divinity. Dance also mirrors life, the oneness and sharing we feel with nature, trees, flowers..understanding that we are one with the sounds and shapes of nature. In odissi rhythms and curvilinear form, I find the unity with the rhythms of the universe, the silence of pauses and the sharing of so many colours and moods. Dance echoes life and reminds us that there are pauses between movement, music between the notes and life and art flow together powerfully through us.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWw1KmNU1Ei9E87e6j_OCva96M2Bep_ESSKxJTb7_5wcVQAP-uvCXAR_alra2yYhQupFdb-j8hArxsrRIFy0WFlIOO59jHoqB8AuM6syPGoCdpuCGtKdLKOuu88TykC9KeyS1YSU8SEukb/s1600/034_33A+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWw1KmNU1Ei9E87e6j_OCva96M2Bep_ESSKxJTb7_5wcVQAP-uvCXAR_alra2yYhQupFdb-j8hArxsrRIFy0WFlIOO59jHoqB8AuM6syPGoCdpuCGtKdLKOuu88TykC9KeyS1YSU8SEukb/s1600/034_33A+copy.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ghananewsagency.org/assets/images/red%20poppies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ghananewsagency.org/assets/images/red%20poppies.jpg" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-42794683010773815292015-03-11T02:56:00.001-07:002015-03-11T02:56:21.292-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sakhi Re...<br />
<br />
As a classical dancer, I learnt in many an abhinaya about the sakhi. Playing this role in a dance, I would mediate between Radha and Krishna, understanding the heart of Radha always. On an earthly plane, sakhi-bhaav comes naturally to women, who bond so passionately even as little girls!<br />
On a deeper note, It is only after a certain age of maturity I realised that the Sakhi is none other than one's inner dialogue. She is our inner voice taking us to our spiritual source, merging with the divine.<br />
In one such moment, this sakhi- poem came about from the sakhi within:<br />
<br />
<br />
'Sakhi'<br />
The rainbow lane,<br />
has many neighbours,<br />
some well noticed,<br />
some not so much.<br />
<br />
I thought I knew,<br />
their whereabouts,<br />
names and addresses,<br />
but not so much.<br />
<br />
This lane in the heart,<br />
brings many a surprise,<br />
some feelings<br />
like a beautiful woman.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/arts/Punjab%20painters/ragbasant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/arts/Punjab%20painters/ragbasant.jpg" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
<br />
This one,<br />
she takes me by surprise,<br />
I gaze wondering,<br />
Who are you dear?<br />
<br />
An intimate surprise,<br />
can that be?<br />
these lanes of the heart<br />
sing many surprises these days.<br />
<br />
My new sakhi,<br />
pulls my arm<br />
my eyes ask questions,<br />
a universe of questions.<br />
<br />
Don't ask me questions,<br />
because answers drown,<br />
these answers are poems,<br />
hymns for the drowning.<br />
<br />
The sun shines bright,<br />
And the moon comes along,<br />
Drowning the days and nights,<br />
how is it that I never saw it before?<br />
<br />
The waves of the moon,<br />
bring life for the drowning ,<br />
for sakhis know,<br />
how we are all poems that sing in the night.<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Radha_celebrating_Holi,_c1788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Radha_celebrating_Holi,_c1788.jpg" height="201" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-58971725961393226732014-10-11T21:09:00.000-07:002014-10-11T21:11:03.064-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Back in the blog moments as I write and re-write from the poet's room. This festive season I find my own goddess self - with the realisation that everything is on the road to Shiva. The womb-birth-love-art-return-completeness-connecting with the universe. Life's journey is truly all Shiva and Shakti. Such a beautiful universal truth and it takes so long to get there. The heart wants more of these moments to BE there, and find my own journey.<br />
<br />
Inspired by the festive season and its mornings:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinebianRwfLNNcm9rTDyo963nnaI1Wkf3Xe_FZmca_VupUWuKcdvqIsZuzTuel2jspExLUsPjtBDpNQZn9BbXhxEOoDs5BAYyyIsTXi1qfCR0QDX4F3QTKQW60Y11peIObrpq5AVxpt4s/s1600/5630424660_85b36c7288_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinebianRwfLNNcm9rTDyo963nnaI1Wkf3Xe_FZmca_VupUWuKcdvqIsZuzTuel2jspExLUsPjtBDpNQZn9BbXhxEOoDs5BAYyyIsTXi1qfCR0QDX4F3QTKQW60Y11peIObrpq5AVxpt4s/s1600/5630424660_85b36c7288_z.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
'<span style="font-size: large;">The Mango Tree</span>'<br />
<br />
The flooded heart sings,<br />
the moon is in a trance,<br />
blossoms deck the mango tree,<br />
the koel seeks its chance.<br />
<br />
Fleeting moments of passion,<br />
this<i> ritu</i> brings along,<br />
the untouched are silent,<br />
mad ones burst into a song.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4j5betl9mSe_BJjqtYAlsaI5wL2R48NZCNvkgnM3mh63WgwKCY1UkXHhZP5z1eiqMpTKCUBwzfrRKHovnDvCD-N341xY07tlxZhBM7lu8n92motFWKJTxcjJrLKl12nFjsjNd0TKKY4/s1600/mangifera_indica_flowers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU4j5betl9mSe_BJjqtYAlsaI5wL2R48NZCNvkgnM3mh63WgwKCY1UkXHhZP5z1eiqMpTKCUBwzfrRKHovnDvCD-N341xY07tlxZhBM7lu8n92motFWKJTxcjJrLKl12nFjsjNd0TKKY4/s1600/mangifera_indica_flowers2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Fragrance and Birth,<br />
Shringaar and Love,<br />
Silent and Potent,<br />
many pairs whisper their song.<br />
<br />
Goddess-ness so full,<br />
floods the uterus,<br />
its time to give birth,<br />
to the trees and the universe.<br />
<br />
Time fades into the distance,<br />
loses its tight grip,<br />
as goddess-ness hugs,<br />
and opens my long,long hair.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgP6DkFwctK8E3JoYZ49_MlkmKPhsV7p5nIcNE7M7FW5-lH47K-mocYMZnPpi6p8JbpPJklhTPPtEM2nXVr9lLrRx_vId5IVmTH6H44HO6-rONn3eUcaVw9N9kdZNcQoUsql2GkAFsj1A/s1600/mango-tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgP6DkFwctK8E3JoYZ49_MlkmKPhsV7p5nIcNE7M7FW5-lH47K-mocYMZnPpi6p8JbpPJklhTPPtEM2nXVr9lLrRx_vId5IVmTH6H44HO6-rONn3eUcaVw9N9kdZNcQoUsql2GkAFsj1A/s1600/mango-tree.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a><br />
Silky swirls of me,<br />
talk to the koel on the mango tree,<br />
it sings to my fragrance,<br />
and I wish it was me.<br />
<br />
A world of Mango blossoms,<br />
descend to intoxicate,<br />
Kalidas knew this spell,<br />
as the universe becomes poetry.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-69303128776275509572013-04-13T05:00:00.001-07:002013-04-13T05:00:47.917-07:00The Dance of MotherhoodFor more than a decade I was only a classical dancer, and then two babies came along. Time for Dance and the world of ideas was minimum(literally stolen time!) and yet I was creatively pregnant like never before! I wondered why I was now having this flood of ideas and creativity? Why not before, when I had much more time for dance riyaaz and dance events!<br />
Dance after two kids was more about the process of sharing and enjoying with others in the spirit of satsang. The Indianness and pride in cultural values was something I wanted for all kids, not just mine. Yet I knew in today's world children get very little exposure to Indian classical. How will they pursue it over many years, when they dont know what's beautiful about it? That is how I gave birth to my third baby, the workshop 'Mum,ME and Odissi'! Executed with the help of my sister Swaati Vivek and with technical support from my father in Nov 2011 the first workshop came through.<br />
Since then many sessions have happened and also many other dance events under 'Dance Travels', yet I know the genesis of all this creativity was Mum,ME and Odissi and prior to that motherhood. According to my chanting Guru it was due to the stimulus of the planets of Venus and Moon. Both are connected to motherhood, creativity and classical dance.<br />
It is still elusive to me, as to what creativity the reproductive process and motherhood bring to a creative artist, but I know there is a connection for sure. A connection where an artist learns from life - from children and motherhood - the joy of sharing, spontaniety, creativity and being in the moment all the time. The many emotions and all the<i> rasas</i> of life are revealed and life comes forth multicolour! As 'Mum, ME and Odissi' starts its new session this summer, I am utterly grateful to my children and to God for for leading my creative process in such an amazing way. Thank you.<br />
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More about 'Mum.ME and Odissi' at the weblink:<span style="font-size: large;"> www.jayamehta.in/mum-me-odissi.php</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLHECyJzsmIFa9IC59ueHayLpkIPiljpqm7e_FdJd_aiejYr1mBGK4tmSm-3_4c1msNF0OG3jAK5VuvFphxpXd97obfoX9FHkTFDC4rQUcrW1bVCDjGCn4_jqlxxfrJb2R7-9Kz5bsYk/s1600/577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLHECyJzsmIFa9IC59ueHayLpkIPiljpqm7e_FdJd_aiejYr1mBGK4tmSm-3_4c1msNF0OG3jAK5VuvFphxpXd97obfoX9FHkTFDC4rQUcrW1bVCDjGCn4_jqlxxfrJb2R7-9Kz5bsYk/s320/577.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-51684254022099286062011-12-28T19:37:00.000-08:002011-12-28T20:08:56.928-08:00Dancing Odissi for Lord Jagannath in his homelandJust back from Orissa, having danced at the International Odissi Festival,2011. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINB1xjtLBBzcjcZBifMVW9vuIp2mHIKVYTvNLsIFrGjREkuXN2fnIj7S5xnWcBVYuDWk6RFK50hy6LAyoK652JPQpSsFObk4o4yBo0DT9Lm4xS3ZproJuSuGq71BcKRVRcQ0z0zwXrRY/s1600/IMG_1748.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 206px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691390394286791234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINB1xjtLBBzcjcZBifMVW9vuIp2mHIKVYTvNLsIFrGjREkuXN2fnIj7S5xnWcBVYuDWk6RFK50hy6LAyoK652JPQpSsFObk4o4yBo0DT9Lm4xS3ZproJuSuGq71BcKRVRcQ0z0zwXrRY/s320/IMG_1748.jpg" /></a>I came to know of my participation just ten days before the event, and it was a lot of quick planning to get dance practice, costume, air tickets, hotel bookings etc. all done in a jiffy. I danced 'Archana Puri', a special dance where a devadasi prays to Lord Jagannath in his temple in Puri. Having performed this dance I realised that this dance by Guru Surendra Nath Jena is not a dance but a prayer. It gives the dancer a special kind of satisfaction, elation and blessing and brings her so close to Jagannath ji. In fact this whole year of 2011, seemed like a series of planned events by Jagannath ji. I brought my family in January to Orissa to take blessings from him. And it gave me creative stimulus this year like I have never had before. I created new things and realised so many new things. He came to our house in the form of a beautiful Jagannath painting painted by an artist from Raghurajpur. In our Odissi classes we showered Jagannath ji with love,flowers, shashtang pranams and even learnt to make his face in a craft project. And then as the year drew to a close Jagannath ji invited me to Orissa again, to dance, experience him intensely in a very special dance Archana Puri. It was as if he wanted to let me know that we have found a very special love in each other and it will only multiply with time. I feel blessed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-1519467125550207702011-08-24T04:56:00.000-07:002011-08-24T05:07:00.058-07:00Creating a Website leads to the way...Some months back came some divine inspiration and I knew I wanted to share my Odissi thoughts, ideas and projects with lots of people. Many more than those I know. And thats how the idea to the dance website came about. And in a more structured way than in a blog. So the website is coming up and in the process of writing its content, I was surprised at my own thoughts on Odissi. Some of them just sprang out of nowhere, springing out with a force! How precious and loved Odissi is in my life! I never knew I intutivelely absorbed so much of it! I am now aware of a universe of understanding Odissi that lies within me, in a cosmic level I have never accessed. So now along with dancing, I seek to undertake this journey, and find out all that I have understood about Odissi from the bottom of my heart and the love of my soul.
<br />Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-13723048435724761752011-08-04T02:49:00.001-07:002012-03-14T20:04:41.425-07:00Guru and Me<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKgyV2el3GaYcbFg2fcG-7XYjIbbbxGysMUzkcnx4WzMOfaLg5m04wrPMMrIQxe0sTWOAzpD4PKvnjSud2vJHTWUdPmyrAghy1iTSnllH7cc1pQSBoRhj92FqprSMK6Xvd80V7FFbY-4/s1600/DANCE+sketchO.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636945791774087058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKgyV2el3GaYcbFg2fcG-7XYjIbbbxGysMUzkcnx4WzMOfaLg5m04wrPMMrIQxe0sTWOAzpD4PKvnjSud2vJHTWUdPmyrAghy1iTSnllH7cc1pQSBoRhj92FqprSMK6Xvd80V7FFbY-4/s320/DANCE+sketchO.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Recently as dance and spirituality have formed a wonderful connect in my mind, I also discovered the amazing understanding of a Guru from both these perspectives. All the ideas of a guru being like a teacher, mentor, guide seem limited in their dimensions. I think that the guru is the bridge from the mortal world to the divine, even the means to go in free flight into the cosmic world within. Suddenly one finds such love, joy and blessings and a feeling of ever expansiveness, I think this must be how people feel skydiving accompanied by the stillness of the world outside and within. A wonderful classical dance class or daily meditation leaves one with such heightened awareness. Suddenly one finds leaves greener, the traffic sounds like a symphony and joy welling up in the cup of one's heart. Is it joy, or gladness or contentment, a feeling difficult to define in english terms? I think it is '<em>anand</em>' the hindi term for a kind of lasting forever feeling of bliss.</p><br /><br /><p>Amazing Gurus are those who take us skydiving when we are walking on the road, plunging into the ocean of our depths and opening up forever the room of our being to a gorgeous view. From this room with a view we start looking at things afresh and feel wonderfully drenched in the sunshine or raindrops that come our way. To even say Thank you for these experiences feels small, it is as if me and my Guru were designed for each other. For a journey much beyond soulmates.</p>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-10567566342403141492011-07-27T05:09:00.000-07:002011-08-04T03:31:26.232-07:00Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shows the way<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2f6PqpSWtgAmGA6xLDcvl37y9ZbvZ5JsVldIZ4fuEpIgDFlQAorybO_4pOBCVKu7Ly-hzgPIdfctM0P41guKdgtahebInlt5nsLCxBSSZNqbTWFMMXcEzn1g6PJCpd762IYmZDxu6pY/s1600/sri_sri_ravi_shankar_03.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 126px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634018717716894290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-2f6PqpSWtgAmGA6xLDcvl37y9ZbvZ5JsVldIZ4fuEpIgDFlQAorybO_4pOBCVKu7Ly-hzgPIdfctM0P41guKdgtahebInlt5nsLCxBSSZNqbTWFMMXcEzn1g6PJCpd762IYmZDxu6pY/s320/sri_sri_ravi_shankar_03.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Guruji gave me a whole new perspective to dance today. I read in his notes," all the talents you have are for others. If you are a good cook, it is for others.If you have a lovely voice, it is for others. If you write a good book, it is for others. What do you do? You dont sit and read your own book!"<br />It made me figure out, this is my <em>seva</em>! Art is the service we do for others, spreading the joy and beauty of art to so many more. To dance with that love and joy and <em>'seva bhaav'</em> to me ties up with my inherently devotional understanding of Indian classical dance. Not to enjoy the dance only for myself or to perform for my CV, but to get the glimpse of the divine to reach others. Indian dance is anyway a 'satsang' in which one has amazing <em>'roop darshan'</em> of our beloved gods. Someday I caught that glimpse in someone's dance and decided to find that experience in my own being. Now its time to perform that <em>seva </em>for others:)</div>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-63030772102380622192011-06-17T03:02:00.001-07:002011-08-04T03:33:53.896-07:00The Odissi journey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tbYNGKyigbYCZfCuxPOw6XcP6nQQnuJs8R3e7WKS9Br_JO65XqmjmjFz_KFGkS5oKTyHFcQvaulmwP7TZwt3mRo_cW6lz2s4HDdOv6P1FN86pPtYAnYQpX8xr-MqnLt-DREZdLiY16Q/s1600/IMG_6490+cropcopy.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 212px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634017190192002802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_tbYNGKyigbYCZfCuxPOw6XcP6nQQnuJs8R3e7WKS9Br_JO65XqmjmjFz_KFGkS5oKTyHFcQvaulmwP7TZwt3mRo_cW6lz2s4HDdOv6P1FN86pPtYAnYQpX8xr-MqnLt-DREZdLiY16Q/s320/IMG_6490+cropcopy.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Went last night to watch my fellow odissi dancer Mayuka perform her contemporary dance piece and had a wonderful time watching contemporary dance. Its great fun to watch new artistes perform, in classical or contemporary formats. Such a breath of fresh air! </p><br /><p>It made me think along the lines of what I would like to express in a contemporary format. The contemporary dance format is really well suited to our 'I' centred generation with its unlimited performance art kind of canvas. I still prefer to work on the path of expressing my self within the format of odissi. I love the time travel to a world of sculptures, orissa landscape and the divine zone of my beloved gods and goddesses. I wish to deepen my understanding of odissi dance and music in order to express not just myself, but to deepen my quest into this awesome world where I travel. It is an internal world as much as physical, close to the cosmic landscape one experiences in meditation. I hope my odissi space shuttle takes me to many unknown galaxies which few few rishis and sages have experienced. </p><br /><p>So till then I am very much on aboard getting all my space gear in place, preparing for the wonderful journey into the cosmos. Odissi is my wonderful vehicle, my medium to reach places and then come back to plunge into the temple of my heart. Deep divine love and unabandoned intoxication is all I seek, from the miles and miles I have to travel before I sleep.</p>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102136048977097082.post-29877180082051582242011-06-15T03:18:00.000-07:002011-07-27T06:14:18.483-07:00Dancing with my thoughts...once more<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoOu0-scfsWPROvmPKqlrOmwcmCOkxzVzzS9mSgAOv3_g13CUbvx0nC4QRYgEMQTIaoplttUsqn1iLyNW5UG5l0lNnZL97H8ctlkFaRn5dxABGPR5D_BIruUHjGv8eE_J9gkSxX1g56I/s1600/DANCE+sketchO.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5634019765010726658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMoOu0-scfsWPROvmPKqlrOmwcmCOkxzVzzS9mSgAOv3_g13CUbvx0nC4QRYgEMQTIaoplttUsqn1iLyNW5UG5l0lNnZL97H8ctlkFaRn5dxABGPR5D_BIruUHjGv8eE_J9gkSxX1g56I/s320/DANCE+sketchO.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>Searching for an old article on dance I had written, I stumbled on my own blog started 4 years back after one baby. Having had two babies now and actively back to dancing, so deep in the dance process, I felt it time to write afresh:)<br />Some of my dance thoughts felt precious, like the relationship with different dances likened to having different friends. All with such varied personalities, some more subtle, some so larger than life, and some oh-so high maintenance:)!!<br />I think the biggest difference to dancing now after two babies is that I realise more and more how much bigger than me dance is. And how life is a creative process just like dance and all our creativity is created, developed and nurtured together. I grow in many ways creatively now: as a dancer, artist and mum, finding new inspiration and immense joy in dance, all works of art and my lovely babies. Life is a masterpiece when viewed in its totality, to be fixated on one thing is kind of like losing perspective. One seeks for creativity and deep insight from many aspects of life and art, the search is the same. The lesser the tags we put on our wonderful painting of life, the more multicolour our experience of it will be!</div>Jaya Mehtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16318945692000056586noreply@blogger.com0