You cannot Look away: Odissi

PUBLISHED April 5th, 2014 05:12 am | UPDATED May 9th, 2018 03:13 am

Between tilted torso and the heaved heel,

swaddled soft in sounds

of beating drums,

the pulse of a People throbs,

you cannot look away

Lifting voices, lilting rise

Seeking the light

Of a still swollen moon,

Back and beneath the Starry black

Of the dark unanimous Night

you cannot look away

Silken moonbeams Carouse

faraway fragrances,

A thousand roses mixed in

Sandalwood paste,

Incense and smoke,

Still,

A lumpen, loving heart beckons

Beckoning beats Unabashed:

you cannot look away

Eyes fixed on the dance,

The dancer drops in

Devout, distilled,

Devoured and distant

you cannot look away

Liquid wrists feign

fully fledged flowers,

Fingers bloom lotus petals

Languid limbs stream

By seated lovers:

you cannot look away

Head upon chest

Palm upon breast

Cheek by lips; taste on tongue tip

you cannot look away

Breathing each other in

Drowning in eye pools

Swooning, swaying,

Soothing still;

Sighing

you cannot look away

Dance invites us to gaze on the body as it intersects space and time. This is the body as living event. The repertoire of Odissi traditionally connects the physical with the divine. In this programme, however, we will attempt a more concentrated focus on the pure physicality of the dance. The corporeality of the form. Highlights will thus fall on extending and elaborating interstices. Those spaces left for the creativity of the dancer that the conventions of Odissi permit.

The evening will open with a mangalacharan and will then veer away to a batu interspersed with new inventions . This will be followed by a pallavi and an expression of abhinaya drawing on the work of the contemporary Tamil poet Cheran.

Tickets from $27. Purchase [here](http://preview.sistic.com.sg/events/odissi0514)