2010 marks 30 years of performances and instruction in the Bay Area by Mythili Kumar, who founded the company in 1980. Abhinaya’s performances showcase the ancient living tradition of classical Bharatanatyam tracing its evolution through an extensive repertoire inspired by India’s religious, mythological, and contemporary literature.
After a performance in the first weekend of the Ethnic Dance Festival in June and a week-long workshop toward the end of the month, Abhinaya will culminate their summer celebrations with a two-day festival in August. The Festival will feature Synergy, a collaborative performance with the Japanese drumming group, San Jose Taiko. Also on the bill are performances by the artistic director, company and selected alumnae, works of composer Guru Muralidharan from India, and live music by Asha Ramesh, N. Narayan, Shanthi Narayan, Ragavan Manian, Raja Sivamani, Ravi Gutala, and A.Mahadevan.
The company celebrated an especially proud moment when artistic director, Mythili Kumar received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the June 5 evening show of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. During that evening, Abhinaya Dance Company performed Prithvi Sooktam, a hymn to the Earth choreographed by Rasika Kumar.
This article appeared in the July/August 2010 issue of In Dance.
