13/05/2021
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि।।
In today’s world we are all fighting various battles — some for our loved ones, and some for ourselves. The past 3 weeks have been extra difficult as I have lost several people, whom I admired and loved deeply, both due to Covid-19 and life’s natural progression. This performance is dedicated to them.
Each time I did my class or rehearsal, I asked myself, how I could dance when I was mourning. Then I realised that dance was helping me, and everyone dancing with me, to heal and cope with something or the other.
We have come a long way. My journey with this project started in June 2020. Even during the lock down and social distancing , I was busy styling and turning actors into dancers. It was not easy, but I took on the challenge of working with 23 actors and 10+ Indian classical dance forms, although my own training is limited to contemporary dance, Bharatnatyam and Muyurbhanj Chhau.
I had a chance to do some preliminary workshops with the actors before the gathering restrictions were imposed. That gave me a sense of their natural capabilities. With 100+ hours of online and studio rehearsals, we are finally ready to present to you the epic tale of Mahabharata in our own unique way.
It has been a privilege to work as an Assistant Director, Choreographer and also play the role of Kunti. I am really grateful to God and Gurus, my Director, my fellow actors and the production team for entrusting me with these roles. I hope that I could live up to their and your expectations in some small measure.
It’s our honour to bring you the Mahabharata on Saturday,15th May, 2021 at the Grand Theatre, Xiqu Centre, Kowloon, TST. This epic tale is presented by Teacup Productions to celebrate the 75th year of India's independence with the support of India in China (Consulate General of India, Hong Kong)
Please watch the show live on our youtube channel at: https://youtu.be/hi1bs0GGztg to be streamed from 6 pm HK time (3:30 pm IST) on May 15, 2021.