The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis, Minnesota
September 1st, 2005
Dear Funder,
I am writing this letter in support of Ragamala Music and Dance Theater. As
Coordinator of the Docent Program at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, I organize
training sessions for our volunteer docents that help them better understand
the collections and their cultural context. We have benefitted from two performances
given by Ragamala over the past couple of years.
We were particularly interested in understanding the relationship between Indian dance and the visual arts in relation to objects in our Indian art collection. To achieve that goal, we asked members of Ragamala to provide educational commentary about the dances before they were performed. Ranee Ramaswamy and Tamara Nadel gave excellent explanations about what we were about to see. This educational component was instrumental in teaching our volunteer guides about the cultural and religious context for Indian art as well as showing them the complexity and beauty of this art form.
Sincerely,
Debra L. Hegstrom
Coordinator, Docent Program
Education Division
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
