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Ramli Ibrahim's Odissi Mesmerises Washington

09 October 2008 1 views

Ramli Ibrahim's Odissi Mesmerises Washington

BERNAMA

By Salmy Hashim

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Ramli Ibrahim and his Sutra Dance Theatre mesmerised the Washington audience with their graceful rendition of Odissi, a classical Indian dance, ending their Spellbound Tour which had taken the acclaimed dance group to Europe and major cities in the United States.

The troupe, in their colourful red, white and gold costumes, cast a spell on the audience with their flawless movements taking them to a far and distant land during the beautiful Odissi repertoire under the artistic direction of Ramli Ibrahim.

Host of the Washington evening, Charge D'Affaires Ilango Karupannan said Sutra's multiracial dancers of Malay, Indian, Chinese and mixed races, spoke well of dance transcending racial and cultural barriers.

"To me Sutra is an embodiment of inter-cultural understanding.

"Arts and culture is a powerful tool for the promotion of understanding among peoples, communities, and indeed civilisations. And understanding the 'other' is the key to tolerance and cooperation," he said.

The end came too soon for the more than 200 guests of the Malaysian embassy who gave two standing ovations for the performers in an evening of "Appreciation of Malaysian Arts and Culture."

Guests from the diplomatic community, Malaysian American Society, and young and professional groups, and others were later treated to an array of the finest Malaysian cuisine to complete the evening.

Prior to Washington, the Spellbound Europe/US Tour 2008 had a string of successful performances in Vienna, Florence, San Giovanni D'Asso, Paris, London, Antwerp, Zurich, Houston, New York and Washington DC.

In New York, the troupe performed at "the Dance Festival of India" with five other leading dance groups from India at the prestigious Carnegie Hall on Sept 20. They depart for home Tuesday.

Sutra Dance Theatre features dancers Ramli Ibrahim, Guna, January Low, Rathimalar Govindarajoo, Divya Nair, Geethika Sree, and Michelle Chang. The troupe travels with its technical director, Sivarajan Natarajan.

-- BERNAMA
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