Venue: Sorenson Theater for the Arts, Babson College Wellesley MA
Date: Sunday 14th September 2008, 
Time: 5pm (Lecture demonstration 3 – 4pm)

Tickets: $25, $15($15 Tickets are discounted for students and seniors at $10) - Reserved Seating
Tickets on line at lokvani.com 
(http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/cal.php?stage=1&event_id=6195) or 
sulekha.com - https://www.sulekha.com/ticketsV3/buytickets.aspx?cid=536863)  
OR send a check to Academy of Indian Performing Arts POBox 49 Westford MA 01886

Seating Chart: http://www3.babson.edu/Sorenson/upload/SeatingChart.pdf
Questions: Call (978) – 392 - 4677  
 
Nayaki
"He played softly the Pann Naivalm, darting furtive glances at me. Then feigning shyness he made passes through songs. In a trice my eyes and my heart ran and fell at his feet. My bangles loosened, my waist band fell. His fish like earrings and his four shoulders loomed large before me. "How far away is my lord's abode?" I asked. "Is this not my beautiful Tiruvali?" he said in reply." Parakala Nayaki, the lovelorn maiden tells her friend about her meeting with her beloved. This is a translation of a poem from the text Thiru Nedunthandakam by the mystic poet Thirumangai Alwar. 
(From The Sacred Book by Srirama Bharati)
 
'Nayaki' is based on these intense love poems of this saint poet. The poems are passionate and philosophical depicting the longing of the individual soul for the union with the Supreme. 
 
Traveling from place to place, from temple to temple, Thirumangai Azhwar composed exceedingly beautiful poetry to his Divine Beloved, Vishnu/Narayana, as an expression of his love for Him. Alvar means one who is "immersed" in the experience of God, the omnipresent mysterious one.  Thirumangai Alvar is the last of the 12 Alvars. The twelve Alvars flourished in south India somewhere between the fifth and ninth centuries of the first millennium.  The Bhakthi movement in India got a great boost from their Tamil hymns, which are profound and spontaneous outpourings of their bhagavath anubhavam (the enjoyment of the Divine being). Their hymns add up to 4000 in number and are revered as "the sacred collect -Dhivya Prabhandham, sparking a renewal of devotional worship throughout India.  
 
Jothi Raghavan 
Bharatanatyam dancer/teacher/choreographer, Jothi Raghavan has performed extensively in India and the United States. As a performer and choreographer she has received many awards, which includes the prestigious Choreographers Fellowship from The National Endowment for the Arts. Since 1977 in her school Nrityanjali, Jothi has been training students who go on to performing with Jothi Raghavan in her concerts. Exploration India – a pet project of Jothi Raghavan has received enthusiastic support from Art councils, schools (K-12) and Girl Scout groups. As the artistic director of The Academy of Indian Performing Arts that she founded in 1987, she has brought high quality productions to Massachusetts and thereby developing an educated audience, in the community. Her annual visits to India help her to keep abreast of the changing cultural and artistic trends there. She believes that, for the Indian art forms to survive in this distant land, the younger generation has to be educated not only in the art form but also in the discipline it calls for. 

Contact
e-mail: jothi_nrityanjali@yahoo.com 
www.indianperformingarts.org