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people want to be moved to tears people
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want to feel a mystery that can't be put
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into words they want to feel inspired
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they want to feel hopeful and that's
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what we have been taught to create with
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Indian classical dance and what I hope
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to transmit through my performances who
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is this woman living in Rajasthan India
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dancing ODC classical dance dancing with
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kalbeliya gypsies in the desert and
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traveling the world performing
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contemporary fusion dance how does a
00:01:21
Western woman embrace a different
00:01:23
culture and make it her own you know
00:01:27
over thirteen years I came to India for
00:01:44
ODC but it was also in my mind to take a
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trip to Rajasthan and find a tribe of
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gypsies that I had seen in a beautiful
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film called macho drum and I came to
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Rajasthan to find this tribe of
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kalbeliya and I found the kalbeliya here
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in pushkar
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when I met the Kabylia they were not
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teaching their dance to others they
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learn by watching their older sisters
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their auntie's their mothers it's not a
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dance form that was taught and they had
00:02:24
no idea of how to break it down it took
00:02:27
a long time even for them to understand
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how would you convey this dance movement
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to someone from outside of our tribe and
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really the way that I learned their
00:02:41
dance was spending years and years in
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the gypsy camp eating with them playing
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with the children learning their songs
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and just being a part of their culture
00:02:53
and understanding what are their values
00:02:56
and what do they consider beautiful what
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is the kalbeliya sense of humor and what
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is an artist in the Cavalia world there
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is an aspect of charm in their dance
00:03:08
that is what makes it so fun to do it's
00:03:11
a completely improvisational dance this
00:03:17
my teacher of Merida and so d/c
00:03:21
sometime kalbeliya also I know her ankle
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when I'm is small round fourteen tucked
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in I know she's like my sister
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I use rajastani dance to tell my story
00:03:41
because I've been living there for it's
00:03:44
now over 13 years and I really feel at
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home there it's just a pure expression
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of joy for me I also work with another
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cast of artists from Rajasthan very
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traditional people that are called lunga
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and also manga near
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they memorize these stories they
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memorize songs these rods and they pass
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it down generation to generation they
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are the ones who used to perform for the
00:04:23
Maharajah's in Rajasthan
00:05:07
when I danced with lunga when I danced
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with this traditional music I feel that
00:05:14
history it's a sense that you get being
00:05:17
with people who have held their
00:05:19
tradition intact that they live as they
00:05:23
lived 800 years ago they keep those
00:05:27
traditions alive and there's meaning to
00:05:31
the music there's meaning to their way
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of life
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these people who are villagers who are
00:06:00
nomads these traditional people who I'm
00:06:04
associated with in Rajasthan teach me
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what it is to be detached and living in
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the present moment not worrying about
00:06:14
fame and fortune not worrying about
00:06:16
where I stand in society not worrying
00:06:18
about tomorrow is really how these
00:06:21
people live
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gentle again
00:06:41
as a dancer I have many phases within
00:06:45
the dance I'm a performer and I'm a
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student and I'm a teacher I feel much
00:06:52
more like a student than a teacher
00:06:53
because when you study under great
00:06:56
masters you just can't imagine that ever
00:06:59
one day in your life you will measure up
00:07:02
to their greatness I really focused
00:07:05
myself more as a student I want to
00:07:07
embody the art at such a height
00:07:18
temple dancing was a tradition that in
00:07:23
recent history was centered in certain
00:07:26
very famous temples throughout India and
00:07:28
one of those famous temples was the
00:07:30
juggernut temple in puddi and so women
00:07:33
called Maharis would dance in the
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juggernut temple and Jagannath is a form
00:07:38
of Vishnu who is also Krishna
00:07:41
and so this vation of temple this temple
00:07:44
of jagannatha these dancers were dancing
00:07:47
and acting out the stories of Lord
00:07:49
Krishna and the mood and the bhava of
00:07:51
Lord Krishna is very sweet and romantic
00:07:53
and it's like associated with springtime
00:07:57
and just loveliness
00:07:59
so this feeling in the dance form this
00:08:01
little bit of sensuality that's there is
00:08:05
not a earthly sensuality it's a divine
00:08:08
kind of romantic mood relating to the
00:08:11
Lord as your beloved and finally the
00:08:14
tradition died out so temple dancing at
00:08:17
one point in India in 1935 it was
00:08:19
outlawed women were outlawed from
00:08:22
dancing inside of temples and slowly the
00:08:26
dance was revived in and classic alized
00:08:29
into what we call OTC before it was just
00:08:32
what was done in the juggernut temple
00:08:35
and then when it was classic alized
00:08:37
there were gurus who were male gurus and
00:08:40
actors from the theatre and scholars who
00:08:43
got together and read the old text on
00:08:46
dance studied the sculpture in all the
00:08:49
temples in Orissa and then classical
00:08:52
eyes this dance form made it even more
00:08:54
highly structured and the training
00:08:58
process was established how one would go
00:09:00
through the training and then it was a
00:09:02
dance form that was put on the stage
00:09:07
and this was at a time when India became
00:09:09
independent and classical ization of
00:09:12
many indigenous dance forms were
00:09:14
underway just you know the masters tried
00:09:16
as much as they could to retain the
00:09:18
ritualistic practices and the spiritual
00:09:21
intention in the dance form
00:09:32
really can't explain why I was so sure
00:09:36
when I took that leap of faith to come
00:09:38
to India to study ODC and the chance to
00:09:43
meet the Masters that I have had my
00:09:46
category my OTC gurus my spiritual guru
00:09:49
it's pure luck to meet a master of such
00:09:53
immensity I met Sujata just in the last
00:09:58
few years I had another guru to start
00:10:02
ODC and I don't think I would have been
00:10:04
ready if I met her from the first day
00:10:07
because she's full power it takes a very
00:10:10
ready and willing student to already be
00:10:14
surrendered completely to work at the
00:10:16
level that she demands Galena is a very
00:10:22
good human being first of all I should
00:10:24
say that and such a devotee the first
00:10:29
year when I see her I could feel the
00:10:32
devotion in her eyes in her heart and by
00:10:37
staying with her spending some time with
00:10:40
her with closed circuit I could feel she
00:10:43
has that guru bhakti you know - devotion
00:10:47
to her guru and I could clearly
00:10:49
understand because it relates to me also
00:10:52
because I also a devotee of my guru so
00:10:56
it is a connection when one of my
00:10:59
student she starts loving me or he
00:11:02
starts loving me I could clearly
00:11:04
understand the point of view which angle
00:11:07
the devotion comes to me
00:11:09
so Kalina is definitely one of them to
00:11:12
whom I understood that she loves her
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guru
00:11:17
she loves the art and she want to be
00:11:20
into inside that the involvement the
00:11:23
deep sense of getting the art and to
00:11:27
nurture whatever possibility from the
00:11:29
art the thing about studying under a
00:11:32
guru and that tradition in India which
00:11:35
we call the Guru shishya parampara that
00:11:38
lineage is not just about learning dance
00:11:40
technique it's a
00:11:42
about learning the way of life the path
00:11:45
of the artist and the way to fulfilment
00:11:49
ultimate fulfillment because in India we
00:11:52
believe that art is a path to
00:11:55
realization
00:11:57
she is someone who's very devotional and
00:12:01
I learned what it is to be a devotee
00:12:03
from her I learned the deeper meaning
00:12:07
the deeper nuance of the stories we tell
00:12:09
in our dance our dance is rooted in
00:12:12
Vedic philosophy the stories from the
00:12:15
Puranas about the gods and the goddesses
00:12:17
are what we use as content in the dramas
00:12:21
that we portray we have to understand
00:12:24
that connect with it we have to believe
00:12:26
in it so she not only teaches me the
00:12:32
steps the mudras and the stories that
00:12:34
were acting out but she really lives by
00:12:38
those values that we convey through our
00:12:40
stories and I have rarely met another
00:12:43
classical Indian dance guru that I can
00:12:46
say really lives by that for that code
00:12:49
of ethics that code of values that we
00:12:52
learn about through the Vedic stories
00:12:58
that beauty inside of the dance is not
00:13:02
to be confused with a beauty that is an
00:13:06
external beauty so what Indian classical
00:13:09
art teaches us is Satyam Shivam Sundaram
00:13:13
but what is the binding element of
00:13:16
beauty is is an eternal truth what is
00:13:19
eternal truth its spirit
00:13:37
standing on stage is a very vulnerable
00:13:39
thing it's thrilling in that way the
00:13:42
audience gets to participate in your
00:13:46
vulnerability to strip things down to
00:13:49
their essence and try to reveal a truth
00:13:53
I know that if my mind is clouded with
00:13:57
insecurities or doubts or fears or any
00:14:00
concern or even pride that that will
00:14:04
cloud the experience for the audience
00:14:06
that they won't get that divine
00:14:09
transmission of beauty of peace and
00:14:13
contentment because I'm busy worrying
00:14:15
about my own experience and really
00:14:18
performing in front of an audience it's
00:14:21
a shared experience it's just as much
00:14:23
mine as it is the audiences
00:14:49
I have dedicated my life over a decade
00:15:15
to collecting this wisdom this these
00:15:19
precious teachings it just feels natural
00:15:23
the next step would be to share that my
00:15:32
school in Rajasthan is been a temple and
00:15:34
I don't think I would still be doing or
00:15:37
DC if I didn't have a school that was
00:15:39
inside of a temple it brings context to
00:15:43
the dance why it's a devotional dance
00:15:45
form and why we're dancing and acting
00:15:48
out stories of the gods and goddesses it
00:15:51
all finds a context and make sense in
00:15:54
that temple atmosphere so life in a
00:15:57
temple it's not a fantasy it's a reality
00:16:01
which takes a lot of discipline and it
00:16:03
takes a lot of sacrifice
00:16:12
one of the special things about the
00:16:14
school is that it's not just the dance
00:16:17
or it's not just yoga she is working to
00:16:21
have us them understand the hidden
00:16:26
layers in all of this and she explained
00:16:29
a concept called guru Shakti where when
00:16:33
you see a dancer dancing and their
00:16:34
technique is beautiful and perfect but
00:16:37
there's something that's not nice
00:16:40
worse is a dancer where yes their
00:16:42
technique is perfect but there's
00:16:43
something extra maybe in the way that
00:16:45
they move their eyes or just in their
00:16:47
their energy that makes you have this
00:16:50
emotional reaction to them and that is
00:16:53
connected to the Guru's sort of the
00:16:57
ancestral blessings and the ancestral
00:17:00
energy flowing through them when they
00:17:01
dance and that's what I what I've seen
00:17:03
when I see Kalina dance and when she's
00:17:05
sharing her practice and her sort of
00:17:07
gems of wisdom with us and that's why
00:17:09
she has this community of women who are
00:17:12
coming to her to learn more than just
00:17:15
the physical practice of dance and yoga
00:17:18
something different that I get from
00:17:21
studying with Kalina is that she really
00:17:26
sees dance as a very holistic practice
00:17:32
and she incorporates you she truly sees
00:17:34
it as a yoga it's not just a dance form
00:17:38
it's a very full experience and she
00:17:41
really transmits this to us in every
00:17:45
moment every day the evening classes
00:17:47
where we sit down and talk about various
00:17:50
philosophies and theories
00:17:53
this is the perfect place and the Temple
00:17:56
Dance Festival and the Shakti School of
00:17:58
Dance it's like living it's like a
00:18:00
living workshop where you're living you
00:18:02
know getting to that place for your
00:18:04
offering offering your efforts offering
00:18:06
your dance offering your love offering
00:18:08
yourself so that something's hopefully
00:18:11
divine and greater can flow through what
00:18:16
do you see is the most important art in
00:18:19
my life although I do other art forms
00:18:22
like fusion dance and Rajasthani folk
00:18:25
dance no other art that I've come across
00:18:27
offers that potential of expressing your
00:18:32
higher self because we do or DC to
00:18:37
become a conduit for something divine I
00:18:40
have my cultural roots my familial roots
00:18:43
but spiritual roots even you know
00:18:48
metaphysical wisdom of ancient times all
00:18:51
over and indigenous cultures are being
00:18:53
lost slowly and we're focusing on other
00:18:55
things in our society in this school and
00:18:59
in our philosophy classes or even just
00:19:01
in the art itself in the stories were
00:19:03
portraying we are keeping alive these
00:19:07
ancient virtues and wisdom that leads to
00:19:11
a place of liberation
00:19:27
and philosophy also comes with a simple
00:19:29
reason that I'm asking Who am I I'm
00:19:32
doing a book on Upanishads and even in
00:19:35
those times that is we're talking of
00:19:36
BC's they're talking of these Rishi's
00:19:41
this money is going to the forest are
00:19:42
Enya's and asking the question about Who
00:19:45
am I what is my existence and what is my
00:19:48
connection to the world that I perceive
00:19:51
and even this model will you asking the
00:19:53
same question and I think arts do answer
00:19:55
these questions at least they get you
00:19:58
closer to it
00:20:06
Nadia
00:20:12
from years of training in Indian
00:20:15
classical dance I bring these techniques
00:20:17
and aesthetics together with
00:20:19
contemporary dance and belly dance
00:20:29
Nadia
00:20:36
I travel the world teaching Indian
00:20:41
fusion Indian fusion belly dance I teach
00:20:44
these styles of dance and I perform them
00:20:47
and they're really the style of dances
00:20:50
it's my own creation it's where I'm able
00:20:54
to play with the classical Indian
00:20:58
aesthetics and the values of Indian art
00:21:02
and carry them over to something modern
00:21:05
that is something maybe outside of
00:21:07
Indian culture but is my own experience
00:21:10
my life experience my dance experience
00:21:32
all of my students who've come to any of
00:21:36
my workshops I just feel so proud of
00:21:42
them I respect them so much because
00:21:44
usually people come to my school or come
00:21:48
to my retreat to have a paradigm shift
00:21:51
to have a moment in their life where
00:21:55
they step outside of the mundane and
00:21:58
step outside of just going through the
00:22:01
motions and they want to challenge
00:22:03
themselves and they want to grow and
00:22:05
they want to explore their potential and
00:22:08
I really try to push everyone to their
00:22:11
limits in my class and when I see people
00:22:14
rising to the occasion I just feel
00:22:17
really in awe of that they're my heroes
00:22:20
I want to be like that I want to push my
00:22:23
limit every day and every dance class
00:22:26
and when I see my students doing that I
00:22:30
feel like it's this bouncing back and
00:22:33
forth of inspiration that they inspire
00:22:35
me and their sincerity
00:22:37
you know the students who come with
00:22:39
really sincere intentions and just to
00:22:42
enjoy every moment in the class and I
00:22:45
see that on their face it's like oh my
00:22:47
god I just have so much to learn from
00:22:49
them in their contentment in in going
00:22:54
through that struggle of learning a new
00:22:55
dance and I love to be a part of that
00:22:58
it's very inspiring a real incredible
00:23:04
teacher who offers such simplicity and
00:23:08
such elegance and such beauty like those
00:23:11
three words just keep coming through
00:23:13
even though the dance is so complex
00:23:17
watching kalenna dance and the devotion
00:23:20
that you see when she's doing it it's
00:23:24
and you you don't just see it you feel
00:23:26
it you know like and it's this feeling
00:23:28
of like god I want to be a conduit of
00:23:31
that of grace of this human not human
00:23:37
feeling it's very rare to find a
00:23:40
performing artist in the dance field who
00:23:46
constantly challenges herself and who
00:23:50
lives big : is such an inspiration
00:23:56
that's what so much of this is we will
00:23:59
act as conduits between the past and the
00:24:02
future and we're in a position where we
00:24:04
can take this information and make daily
00:24:07
choices of how are we going to
00:24:08
perpetuate this knowledge this beauty
00:24:11
this tradition and make it relevant
00:24:14
while not diluting it for personal
00:24:18
purposes if that makes sense there's a
00:24:21
much higher calling here
00:24:23
I find so much power and so much beauty
00:24:27
and so much inspiration from my lineage
00:24:29
I feel like more than being a dance
00:24:32
teacher I just want to teach people
00:24:33
about the power of lineage that adhering
00:24:37
to a lineage is not limiting that it's
00:24:39
limitless once you're inside of the
00:24:41
technique and the form but that's where
00:24:44
you get a hidden power and a hidden
00:24:46
confidence that it's not me who stands
00:24:49
on stage it's me and my whole lineage
00:24:51
standing right behind me backing me up
00:24:54
and giving me energy and giving me
00:24:55
inspiration and reminding me that what
00:24:59
I'm doing is right I wouldn't trade that
00:25:01
for a watered down version and I think
00:25:05
Elena's that kind of devotees and I
00:25:07
might just be born an Indian I
00:25:09
understand the language I'm blessed to
00:25:11
be heard because I love it there in its
00:25:13
own sense but there are people whom I
00:25:16
admire and I think she should be won as
00:25:19
individuals as real devotees of the art
00:25:24
is something which transmits transforms
00:25:28
and transcends and if it doesn't do
00:25:31
those things then it's not considered
00:25:34
art in our Indian tradition to transmit
00:25:38
a positive message that transforms
00:25:41
people for the better and will help them
00:25:44
transcend the mundane then this is what
00:25:48
art is this is our goal of art
