by Camille LeFevre
Minneapolis Star Tribune
May, 2005
For years, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater has traversed the boundaries of its own art form -- the South Indian temple dance, bharatanatyam -- to explore the universal qualities of rhythm and expressiveness it shares with dance styles around the globe. In the reprise of its 2003 production "Bhakti," the Minneapolis troupe enters a divine realm, in which the power of art to provide spiritual uplift resounds, regardless of its religious origins.
An exquisite composition, the 60-minute work combines bharatanatyam with the passionate religious poetry and soaring chants of 11th-century Catholic saint Hildegard von Bingen and the Vishnu praise hymns of eighth-century Indian poet Andal. Giving voice to these ancient songs is a trio of stellar performers: the rhythmic vocalist Nirmala Rajasekar, the operatic soprano Jennifer Kult and the earthy, mythic Ruth MacKenzie. (Rajasekar and MacKenzie, in collaboration with Ragamala associate artistic director Aparna Ramaswamy, are co-creators of "Bhakti".)
At several points the singers' vastly different voices thread together in a celestial tapestry of sound. Kult also performs a duet with flautist Raman Kalyan, a virtuoso who mimics Kult's voice and creates his own echo on an array of wooden flutes.
While highly codified and stylized, bharatanatyam's articulate gestures translate the songs into poetic images that give the work flesh and bone. The framework of the piece rests on von Bingen's poem, "O Virtus Sapientiae," in which she describes the three wings of "the great mystery." As the singers describe how "the first wing unfurls," the dancers, in shimmering saris, splay their long fingers like feathers stretching from a wing.
As MacKenzie's and Rajasekar's voices overlap in timeless harmony, Ranee Ramaswamy and her daughter Aparna express how "the second wing, dripping sweat" nourishes the earth. Their hands flutter like beating wings as invisible drops slip from their flingers and they lunge with one arm extended, like warriors of light.
As MacKenzie sings of "the third wing moving like a thread through all things," Aparna Ramaswamy becomes the inscription and description of the divine, giving poetic form to the words. As the other performers join in, the work ends with a jubilant, soul-stirring evocation that affirms the connectedness of all things, transcending division.
