Nataraj school of dance presents Mahishasur Mardini

The dancers  will begin by invoking ma Durga to descend upon earth and bestow her presence among us.  According to the narrative from the puranas, the form of Durga was created by the Hindu trinity, as a warrior goddess to fight Mahishasur. All the Gods and goddesses bestowed their own special powers and created a supreme power - Durga. She uses these powers and their weapons to defeat Mahisashur  thus ensuring peace, prosperity and happiness on earth once again. Durga's form is blindingly beautiful and radiant. With her third eye, and a quarter moon on her forehead, she emits fierce rays of strength and power. She is beautiful, she is feminine and she is strength. She is the embodiment of feminine and creative energy.  She is Shakti.
This particular Mahishasur Mardini is an rendition of Birendra Kishore Badra's Mahalaya through dance. The choreographer, Sima Chakraborty, wanted to bring the nostalgia of Mahalaya. It heralds the advent of Durga Puja, the all important festival of Hindu Bengalis. For decades Bengalis would awake at  4 am, on  Mahalaya day to tune into  the“Mahisasura Mardini” broadcast. The legendary narrator, Birendra Krishna Bhadra, recites the holy verses and tells the story of the descent of Durga to earth, in his inimitable style. The dancers will begin by invoking Ma Durga to decend on earth and  narrate the story of demise of Mahishasur through  dance form. They will complete the piece with the Durga Stuti : Sarve Mangal Mangalye, Shive Sarvarth Sadhike, Sharanye Trambake Gauri, Narayani Namo Stute
The performers are: Ashmi Chakraborty, Bidisha Roy, Amrita Moitra, Pritha Ghosh Roy, Mithila Dastider, Shaheen Khatua, .Shivani Mahuvakar,  Moumita Nandi and Sushmita Guha Majumdar.

Déjà vu Tollywood

Remember those idle afternoons when you would rather kickback and watch your favorite Bengali movie scene? Have you always wondered how it would be to watch those legends on stage live?

Well – now you have an unique  opportunity to watch them descend from the silver-screen to stage in a Hollywood-Oscar like style. Come enjoy your favorite stars perform for you live, revive your fond memories and fill your heart with joy. There will be music, dance, acting and recreation of the movie magic that made Tollywood once so near and dear to us. Think comedy, think romance, think live playback of your most favorite classic or modern songs, think dance on stage – we have it all. You just cannot afford to miss “Déjà vu Tollywood” – an innovative effort to recreate the magical moments of the Bengali silver screen – a collaborative performance of the Tollywood legends those we adore and local bay area talents those we cherish all coming together on Oct 16th Saturday afternoon - transcending boundaries of time.

Sisirkana Dhar Choudhury

The students of Dr. Sisirkana Dhar Choudhury present a spiritual invocation of Ma Durga with their musical orchestra - presenting a rare composition of Baba Ali Akbar Khan Sahib based on the ancient Raga Loom. Sisirkana ji (popularly known as ‘Didi’) is a world renowned violinist  .A disciple of Padma Bhushan Pandit V. G. Jog and Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Sahib, Didiji is currently the torch bearer of the ancient Maihar Senia Gharana (which originally roots back to Mian Tansen). A recipient of the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy award, she continues training her disciples in the guru-shishya parampara through her music which brings out different human emotions through the melody of musical notes. This presentation epitomizes a confluence of instrumental and vocal music in an offering to the goddess.

 

Priyadarshini - NABC 2009 Idol Participant