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Friday, November 6, 2009

A truly memorable evening- Mamata Shankar and troupe enthrall

They came, they performed and they conquered.

Such was the feeling in the minds and faces of the six hundred strong audience which watched the performance of veteran dancer Mamata Shankar and her troupe of twenty performers at the Oman Auditorium of the Al Bustan Palace Hotel on Thursday night.

Having come in to Muscat under the auspices of the Bengal Engineering and Science University, presently known as BESU, and managed by Charisma LLC, the dance troupe brought in a vivid portrayal of the best of Indian dance combined with some of the best elements from the West.

The performance was broadly divided in to two parts.

Part One, was a medley of numerous individual dances, such as the one called “Dhitang, Dhitang Bole”, based on a popular Bengali folk song, followed by another one on a more serious note called the ‘Circle of Life’.

A very peppy and happy dance truly reflecting the ‘Joie-de- vivre’ of the life of fishermen and women, followed thereafter, performed by two young and exceptionally talented dancers of the Dance Company.

Part two of the performance, which followed after the Intermission was well worth it’s weight in gold. Titled ‘Amritsaya Putra’, a Dance Drama and fifty minutes long, it was performed by twenty dancers and choreographed by Mamata Shankar herself-a true reflection of the five elements, Fire, space, wind earth and water.

In essence, it indicates that the soul moves in various forms before entering the human body. The world is a stage where a Divine play is on. Various forms of human emotions, like love, lust, greed, jealousy, anger and violence are portrayed through the dance movements.

All in all, a truly memorable evening, and we would like to hope that other similar dance and cultural extravaganzas provide a similar level of sheer delight to music and dance lovers in Muscat.

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