SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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YANTRA
A DANCE PERFORMANCE BY ABHINAYA

“The disc of the body-cosmos is the best of all yantras”
Shaakta Darshan (15,1,30)

YANTRA is the personal journey from anxiety of the self-realization bustle and urge for having control of your life to letting go and becoming independent of chaos or harmony. Active female energy and passive male energy in dynamic interaction.Two of Sweden´s leading dancers in bharatanatyam and odissi in a collaborative work and inspiring meeting with wellknown musicians on tabla and swedish traditional keyharpe.

The choreography of Yantra is based on the technique and movements of indian classical dance odissi and bharatanatyam. It is also highly influenced by contemporary dance, the martial artform Mayurbhanj Chhau and yoga.. The dancecompany Abhinaya´s aim is to focus on the potential of indian classical dance in today´s society. We want to ”de-exoticise” the artfom and let the graceful, spiritual and rich language of movements, the very founded strong postures and rhythmical footwork speek for itself. In the performance Yantra we work to peel off the shell and break conventions to come closer to the inner core of the danceform. Tradition meets new creative dance, narration meets abstraction in an intresting unison.

Yantra was premiered 30th Sept 2005 during the Indian dance- and music festival, Laya 2005, at Theatre Regina in Uppsala. It was performed at four sold out theatre halls in Uppsala and Stockholm for an enthusiastic audience. It was a big project with artists from Sweden, India and Norway. Since then we have worked at Yantra, making it shorter and more compound with now two dancers and two musicians giving it more flavour of a Nordic-Indian encounter as we are two Swedish Indian dancers born out of Nordic soil and cultivated in Indian arts.

Title of the production: YANTRA
Choreography: Ulrika Anoukha Larsen, Anna Bolmström
Producer: Abhinaya and Odissi Dance production
Length: 55 min
Dance: Ulrika Anoukha Larsen, Anna Bolmström
Music part I Sixteen petals: Suranjana Ghosh, Anders Peev
Music composition part II Bindu: Eric Bergström, Moa Danielsson, Stian Grimstad, Suranjana Ghosh, Kishore Ghosh
Scenography and costume: Zanna Wieveg
Light: Lars Liljegren
Sound: Eric Bergström

About Abhinaya

The dance company Abhinaya was founded in 1998 by Anna Bolmström and Ulrika Anoukha Larsen. We are both trained in the Indian classical dance form Bharata Natyam under Guru Srimati Uma Sundaram in Chennai. Ulrika Anoukha is also educated between 1998-2002 as an ICCR scholar in East indian classical dance, Odissi, under Guru Ramani Ranjan Jena in New Delhi and at Nrityagram, Bangalore. She has also received training and guidance from worldfamous dancer Aruna Mohanty at Orissa Dance Academy in Bhubanewar during long periods in 2003-2006. Ulrika Anoukha and Anna has joined the courses Dances of Many Cultures and Dance production for children at the University Collage of Dance in Stockholm.

Abhinaya performs as a company and solo with a traditional repertoire but above all we create new productions. We collaborate with musicians both within the indian classical- and other genres. Abhinaya has arranged an Indian dance- and music festival, Laya, in Uppsala in 2003 and 2005 and we have performed at many festivals and events throughout Sweden aswell as at Natyaanjali- International festival for Indian dances in Kiev 2005.
Ulrika Anoukha is also running Odissi Dance Production. An organisation that works with creative and contemporary as well as traditional odissi for children and adults. Odissi Dance Production has given performances at several concert halls, theatres,The Cultural House in Stockholm, The International Bookfair in Gothenburg and at many festivals and other events. Together we have received governmental and regional financial support for our productions and international cultural exchange from Art’s Grant’s Commitee, The Swedish institute, Uppsala Municipality and The Foundation for Future Culture.

Stage productions by Abhinaya and Odissi Dance Production:

2002 From Temples
2003 Laya – Indian classical dance x 3
– Indian Temple dance and tabla
– Avatar (family/children)
– Inner Sanctum
2005 Yantra
2006 Odissi Mahari
– Orissa – encounter Indian dance and music (family/children)
2007 Madhus Dream (children aged 8-12)

Contact person: Ulrika Anoukha Larsen, Abhinaya & Odissi Dance Production, Hövdingagatan 5A, 126 52, Hägersten, Sweden
Ph: +46+8 6694591, +46 70 4853008, E-mail: ulrika@danscenter.se

Web page for Odissi Dance Production: www.odissi.se