DANCE - RASA UNMASKED, at 6.30 pm, 28 April 2009

DANCE - RASA UNMASKED, at 6.30 pm, 28 April 2009, Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi.

The High Commission of Malaysia is pleased to join hands with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Tourism Malaysia to bring to New Delhi, RASA UNMASKED, a contemporary dance theatre production inspired by music and the performing arts forms of India and South East Asia.  RASA UNMASKED is a Malaysia-Australia collaboration of Malaysian dancer/choreographer, Ramli Ibrahim’s Sutra Dance Theatre and his Australian counterpart, Anandavalli Sivanathan’s Lingalayam Dance Company.  Both co-artistic directors have integrated their Indian classical dance forms in RASA UNMASKED to choreograph a bold new work, underscored by haunting compositions by renowned American/Chinese ethnomusicologist/composer, Alex Dea.  All three of them are pioneers of classical art forms in contemporary contexts.

RASA UNMASKED is a sensuous, contemporary dance work that sheds new light on India’s most ancient and vital aesthetic notion-the Rasa Theory.  The performance premiered in Sydney, Australia in March 2009, before moving on to Malaysia, Singapore and India.   The New Delhi performance is the last leg of the RASA UNMASKED tour. 

The performance will take place at 6.30 pm, 28 April 2009 at the Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi.

Eight dancers will perform in RASA UNMASKED, accompanied by a cross cultural orchestra, led by Alex Dea.  The Alex Dea music is based on traditional Javanese vocals and rebab with an Indian Carnatic vocalist and a percussionist.  Dea’s music fuses elements of Western classical and contemporary genres with that of the traditional music forms of India and Indonesia.

RASA UNMASKED takes the audience on a vibrant passage through the full spectrum of human emotion as propounded by the Indian sage, Bharata Muni through his nine main “rasas”:  sringara (love), veera (heroism), karuna (compassion), adbhuta (wonderment), hasya (mirth), bhaya (terror), bibhatsa (disgust), raudra (anger) and shanta (serenity).  RASA UNMASKED revitalises and transforms Bharata’s eternal understanding of emotional states into a contemporary framework that connects with the modern audience.  Ultimately, RASA UNMASKED moves beyond genre and the cultures it springs from – it is a production that offers audience a universal vision of humanity’s contemporary and emotional landscape.

RASA UNMASKED is the Malaysian High Commission’s effort to work with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to showcase some of Malaysia’s talented artists.  In this instance, it is gratifying to note that this project also involve contribution from other nationalities.