Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
December, 2004
Dear Ranee,
The recent development and presentation of Sethu, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater's
remarkable retelling of the Ramayana, was one of the true highlights of recent
years for us here at the Walker Art Center. A multi-layered and stunningly beautiful
collaboration between your company, Joko Sutrisno and his Schubert Club Gamelan,
I Dewa Putu Berata and members of his Bali-based gamelan ensemble Çudamani,
lead vocalist Nirmala Rajasekar, and 30 local male vocalists, involved years
of planning and months of artistic rehearsals and technical work.
The fact that it attracted a diverse, joyous audience of nearly 6,000 people
over two gorgeous nights in the Walker's sculpture garden certainly made the
experience memorable and popularly successful beyond any of our expectations.
However, it was actually your artistry and the unlikely
but inspired combination of contemporary Bharatanatyam, the Balinese male vocal
form of kecak, Javanese gamelan, and South Indian Carnatic music that made it
such an important achievement. I attribute the spirit of selfless collaboration
evident throughout the process in large part to your remarkable abilities and
vision.
I am thrilled that the success of SETHU will allow you to remount the work at
O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in St. Paul in the fall of 2006. I have
great hope that the project will be able to be remounted in other cities, and
perhaps other countries as well, in the coming years. If there is
anything I can do to help make this a reality, please don't hesitate to let
me know.
All of us here at the Walker were proud to have commissioned and presented the
premiere performances of SETHU. Thank you again for conceiving and ultimately
producing such a powerful work.
Warm Regards,
Philip Bither
William and Nadine McGuire Senior Curator, Performing Arts
Walker Art Center
tel: 612.375.7626
fax: 612.375.7618
