A performance dedicated in memory of, and to the deeply spiritual and creative genius of Dr. K. Uma Rama Rao.
Alekhya: Spilling Ink
Friday, November 23, 2007 | 7:00 pm
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore
Saturday, January 28, 2017 | 8:00 pm & Sunday, January 29, 2017 | 4:00 pm
Dance Place | Washington, DC 20017
Concept, Script & Voiceover: Vijay Palaparty
Choreography: Vijay Palaparty, Nalini Prakash
Dancers: Rashi Narain, Vijay Palaparty, Kaushika Prakash Heggers, Nalini Prakash, Krithika Rajkumar, Sujit Vaidya
Recording Studio: Amruthavani, Secunderabad
Musicians: Bhavani Kishore Kumar - vocal, Vijay Palaparty & Nalini Prakash - nattuvangam, Vinod Kumar Rameswarapu - mridangam, Dinakar Ramaraju - violin, Phani Narayana Vadali - veena, Dattatrayulu Jogavajjula - flute, Srikanth Ramanujapuram - kanjira, morsing, special effects
Music Editing, Engineering & Mastering: Sujith Sreedhar, Krimson Avenue Studios, Chennai
The Story of Alekhya: Spilling Ink - The origin of our company name!
Alekhya: Spilling Ink was a collaboration of artists coming together to explore individuality and creativity in a multidisciplinary performance project. The program provides treatment to the idea of individualism and creativity in artistic expression and its relationship to Hindu thought. The notion of creativity as a form of self-reflection and outward reflection, and as a meditative practice to connect with the spirit, is central to the project. Using repertoire from the classical South Indian Bharatanatyam dance form, each piece reflects the meaning of the individual who has the ability to create. The act of creating is considered a process of natural instinct and is linked to the overall idea of devotion.
The final act of the performance reveals the meaning behind the work, embodying the ideal of self-expression with a tradition of communal worship. As quoted by Rupa Srikanth in The Hindu, in his review, “Exploration of facets,”of the 2007 debut performance, “After the rigorous Brindavana Saranga thillana, the pot was brought back on stage, this time filled with a white powder. Each dancer took a handful and sprinkled it on stage. In silence. Literally spilling ink, you think?”
From this process and performance, came the name, Spilling Ink, which was adopted for its encompassing homage to the tenets of the organization.
Click the image to play video.
“Staged in six acts centered on palpable engagement, Alekhya: Spilling Ink takes the audience on a journey through raw emotion, a trembling struggle to connect with the divine through art. More than dance, it is a celebration of the senses, an awakening that revels in a yogic mindfulness where art links the physical and spiritual planes. From tactile allusions to the velvet of lotus flowers to saliva induced on the tongue by a reference to saffron and sugar, the entire performance overtakes the audience, compelling them to paint, to sing, to dance, to feel.”
“For its 10th anniversary the Spilling Ink organization presented a small ensemble, six dancers, in a work which explored ideas about prayer. Remarkable discipline and coordination were displayed by the cast in this ritual which lasted and lasted.”
“Thi gentle eginning urt into dnamic and percuive movement during which the dancer hifted in large, mooth stride along the tage. The formed wall with each other and hifted etween gap that the audience could not ee. The moved etween each other, harpl and unafraid of crahing, all while maintaining their hift in focu.”
“The Gayathri manthra and other chants and the ‘Letter to God’ within this piece were seamlessly woven into the beautiful tapestry of emotion. The varnam ended as it had begun with the dancers seated in a circle with arms raised in prayer and supplication. It was simple but eloquently contemplative.”
City Express, Chennai, India - Front Page coverage of Alekhya: Spilling Ink 2007 debut performance.
Images for Alekhya: Spilling Ink 2007 performance.
Funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Spilling Ink received a Dance Place Space Grant in support of the creation of Alekhya: Spilling Ink and its performances.