Manipuri Dance Visions offers tribute to late Guru Bipin Singh on his ninetieth birth anniversary by re-creating his original choreography

GITA-GOVINDA
Recreated, Adapted and Directed by Sohini Ray
Performed by Manipuri Dance Visions Ensemble

As a part of ADORATIONS: CELEBRATIONS OF SACREDNESS FROM INDIA AND SPAIN
In WORLD FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC 

On: September 21, 2008 at 8 pm
At: Fountain Theater, 5060 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034.

For more info: 
Call the fountain theater box office (323) www.fountaintheater.org, www.manipuridancevisions.org
 

Re-constructing Gita-Govinda: Director's Note
On September 21, 2008, as a part of World Festival of Sacred Music, Fountain Theater and Manipuri Dance Visions will present Adorations: Dance of Divine in India and Spain celebrating a Los Angeles tradition – where diverse traditions come together in the same venues and neighborhood. Fountain Theater is known for presenting a monthly series 'Forever Flamenco,' now a legend in the flamenco world in Los Angeles; and the theater has also been a long-time supporter of Manipuri Dance Visions, the only Manipuri Dance company in Los Angeles. The festival brought these two very diverse traditions together in the same evening performing similar themes. 

The year 2008 being my late guru's ninetieth birth anniversary, I wanted to pay my tribute to him by reviving his dance-drama Gita-Govinda he choreographed thirty years ago. My memories of Gita-Govinda go back to 1977-1978 in Kolkata. Manipuri Nartanalaya preparing for Guruji's sixtieth birth anniversary, and Guruji busy writing on his blue and yellow striped sofa. Rehearsals would go on in the fourth floor of Lake School for Girls. I was a performer in the children's group then. And, after our rehearsals were over we would sit and watch rehearsals of Gita-Govinda by the senior artists. In that production, Darshanidi (now Guru Darshana Jhaveri) played the role of Krishna and Kalavatidi (now Guru Kalavati Devi) played the role of Radha both of the being at the peak of their performing career. 

I remember finding a copy of a Gita Govinda, the original Sanskrit text along with Bengali translations from my family's bookshelves and reading through the pages – going back and forth trying to understand what was happening in the rehearsals. Some days I would go ask Guruji about the text, and watch him work through the dance drama, hand-copying the songs, singing them while playing his harmonium and setting the punglols (drum syllables). 

The music, the song and the punglols (drum syllables) were simply etched in my memory. Some of the dances I learnt later but some I just remember from watching rehearsals. 

Excerpts from Gita Govinda were performed later as dance pieces from time to time but the entire dance drama with its original costumes (the poloi in the Nitya Ras style) was never performed again. 

Thirty years later as I prepare for the World Festival of Sacred Music, now with my own dance company, I recollect those moments. The rigor, excitement, physical and intellectual challenges of working with Guruji, are all experiences I treasure everyday.  Those moments from the dusty days of late1970s Kolkata with frequent power-cuts, and rampant malaria is now transported to the giant freeways of California and finding its new roots in the Los Angeles soil, as I work through the same book and texts and teach and rehearse with a new generation of artistes, the same dance drama. 

I have edited the text and lyrics and added the dramatic interludes to suit the sensibility of the contemporary audience.  However, I have kept the music and dances intact from what I remember from the rehearsals. Tradition lives on. 

- Sohini Ray

About Sohini Ray
Sohini Ray is one of most important exponents of the Guru Bipin Singh gharana of Manipuri dance today. Spotted by her guru at the age of seven as a child prodigy, she was the first student in Manipuri Nartanalaya in all the three branches to learn and perform Manipuri drumming at the age of ten, performed with the Jhaveri sisters since the age of thirteen and received the highly competitive National Cultural Talent scholarship at the age of fourteen. Later in her early twenties, she received the 'Shringar Mani' award from Sur Shringar Samasad, Mumbai, the first prize in Manipuri dance in the State Youth festival of dance and music by the West Bengal Rajya Sangeet Academy. Today, a versatile performer, director, chorographer, teacher and scholar, she has her own training institute of Manipuri dance – Manipuri Dance Visions based in Los Angeles, USA along with its performing unit – the Manipuri dance Visions Ensemble. She has performed and toured all over India and North America performing in many prestigious venues and dance festivals both individually and with her students, receiving rave reviews from the press and the audience. Recently in 2007 she was given the 'Los Angeles Treasurers Award' by the Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles and the California Traditional Music Society and her production "Harao-Kummei: Joyful Celebrations in Manipuri Dance" won a nomination for the prestigious Lestor Horton Award given by the Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles.