Megha Sandesha
The Cloud Messenger

This two-hour dance drama is based on the poetic work Meghadutam, written in the 4th century by India's greatest Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa. Part love-story and part travelogue, Megha Sandesha tells the tale of a young demigod, banished to earth, who sends a message (sandesha) to his beloved wife in the heavens through a passing rain cloud (megha). As the Megha travels across India to deliver his message, Kalidasa's poetry describes the glorious beauty of his country.

Set to music and skillfully transformed into a thoroughly enjoyable, visually beautiful dance drama by Sri Narasimhachari, Megha Sandesha is performed by a cast of 16 dancers, including Monica Cooley, M. Satyanarayana Murthy, Suchitra Sairam and senior dancers of Kala Nivedanam.

To aid in the dramatization of this timeless story, several verses written by the late Sanskrit scholar, Sri Yamijala Padmanabha Swami, have been added to the original poetry of Kalidasa. Conceptualization, music composition and arrangement, and dance choreography are by Sri Narasimhachari and Smt. Vasanthalakshmi.

This production is a joint collaboration between Kala Nivedanam and the Global Education Center, a non-profit organization devoted to using the arts in promoting understanding between the different ethnic communities in Nashville. It has been made possible by generous grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Metro Nashville Arts Commission.

Read the feature on Megha Sandesha published in The Tennessean on June 15, 2003.

Choreography - Sri M.V. Narasimhachari and Smt. M. Vasanthalakshmi
Premiere - Nashville, TN - June 21, 2003.
Touring - June 22, 2003 through July 2003