Traditions Engaged

When you’re as far away from India as we are – here in the Bay Area – it’s easy to mistakenly think of that distant land as one unified place where you find one unified culture. Of course, the truth is much more complicated. India occupies over a million square miles of the globe and is home to over a billion of the earth’s inhabitants. Over such a vast territory with such a large population, unity becomes a very abstract and intangible concept. What becomes apparent is the existence of diversity.

The birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and a myriad other belief systems, India has generated multiple cultures over the past few millennia. Then there were those cultures who “visited.” The Moguls reigned, the Portuguese traded, and the British ruled over the land. Each leaving behind a residue, a marker of their presence. The influences are as numerous and varied as the products of their influence – the rich cultures of contemporary India.

The Chitresh Das Dance Company & Chhandam School evoke this richness in all its beauty. Pandit Chitresh Das is perhaps best known for the creation of Kathak Yoga – introducing the complex, and simultaneously layered, tasks of instrument playing and singing to the craft of the dancer. But he has also been an ambassador for the many other dances of India, bringing the stories and the movement of his native land with him to California. The Company’s work has called attention to the beat of the tabla, the stories of Kathak, and the gestures of Bharatanatyam.

CounterPULSE is honored to be a community partner with Chitresh Das and the Chhandam School as they present their upcoming program, Traditions Engaged. The classical, the refined, and the innovative aspects of Indian dance and music will all be on show in one performance saturated weekend. The events take place this weekend, October 1-3, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) .