Mandala Makers Festival to showcase Indian dance traditions in Chicago
It's more than dance. On Saturday, performers with the Mandala Makers Festival will put on a show that blends many elements of Indian culture for Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month.
"It's very spiritual and liberating. For me, dance is my way to peace," said dancer Colin Mascarenhas.
It's history, heritage, and drama.
"I love dance, because for me, I am a communicator, I'm a storyteller," said dancer Kiran James. "It's not only storytelling, but it's also dance and entertainment and spirituality rolled into one."
Mascarenhas and James are practicing for a unique performance on Saturday, featuring men performing classical Indian dances.
"Many of us as male dancers, until pretty recently, had to really be pigeonholed into one type of thing, which is very rhythmic, very athletic dancing. But to see the softer side of male dancers, I think has been really wonderful," James said
During a recent rehearsal, James and Mascarenhas were performing two different numbers; one that had more dramatic elements and another that was pure dance.
"Our theme is power turns into poetry, and what you saw is a poetry in which you see human beings, or the presence of men, in different stories and scriptures," Mascarenhas said.
The show, "Purush: When Power Becomes Poetry," is part of the Mandala Makers Festival, a celebration of South Asian performance art that runs through October.
"It started off as a street festival in Devon Avenue about seven, eight years ago," said Hiteshree Das, the associate executive director of Mandala South Asian Performing Arts, which puts on the festival.
The organization started more than 10 years ago to bring performances like this to Chicago.
"There wasn't an opportunity to be able to celebrate it, to present it, to invite other communities in to be able to participate in it together. And for all of these reasons, I think Mandala was created to both preserve and constantly engage with the South Asian performing arts," Das said.
James and Mascarenhas are proud to help fulfill that mission.
"It's an honor and a privilege and a blessing to be able to be part of the Mandala Makers Festival," James said.
"There's so much of emotions, and as well as it's meditation for me; something that if I can share it with others, I would be more than happy to do that," Mascarenhas said.
You can see Purush on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Visceral Dance Center, 3121 N. Rockwell St.
