Deivika Nrityam
The Dance Divine

Dance. It is a divine art: immediate, instinctive, inspirational and liberating. When we dance we are completely and perfectly alive. For, in dance, that part of our being which is infinite, eternal and universal - the spirit - finds expression through that which is finite and temporal - the body. "Whosoever knoweth the power of dance, dwelleth in God," said the Sufi poet, Rumi. In India, from the beginnings of its great civilization, dance has been used as a means to experience union with the divine.

Not only was it understood that an individual could know God through dance, but Hindu philosophers used dance as a metaphor to describe the very process by which God creates the universe. In Hinduism, the word Brahman is used to describe the One Supreme Spirit, beyond thoughts and words, beyond names and forms, beyond space and time. When the Spirit manifests as the created universe, various names such as Ganesha, Shiva, Devi and Krishna are used for various divine powers and actions. The process by which the One manifests as the Many is called the dance of consciousness, dance of energy, dance of life. Thus in the Hindu tradition, all the deities are portrayed as dancers.

Deivika Nrityam, or The Dance Divine, uses various songs to depict dance as a divine activity, first the One becoming the Many, then the One interacting with the Many, and finally the Many going towards union with the One and achieving divine ecstasy.

Deivika Nrityam features a cast of six dancers. Choreography is by Monica Cooley, Sri M.V. Narasimhachari, and Suchitra Sairam. The prerecorded soundtrack contains songs by various composers in several Indian languages.

Choreography - Monica Cooley, Sri M.V. Narasimhachari, and Suchitra Sairam
Premiere - Nashville, TN, 2005