FESTIVAL DANCERS
Savitha Sastry
Dance Origin: India
Genre: Bharatanatyam
Artistic Director/Choreographer: Savitha
Sastry
First Appearance in SF EDF: 2009
Website: www.savithasastry.com
Bharatanatyam is a temple dance
form from South India, originally created to celebrate the eternal universe through the beauty
of the material body. It combines bhava (spiritual emotion); raga
(music); and tala (rhythm) to
bring scriptures and sacred Veda texts alive. Bharatanatyam developed three forms: abhinaya is the dramatic art of storytelling; nritta
is composed of pure dance movements and visual depiction of rhythms; and nritya combines both storytelling and
form. Savitha's performance is an example of the nritta—pure
dance form: the dancer gives herself to the higher energy flowing through her,
to elicit an uplifting joy. This choreography also reflects an exciting
evolution in India
today, an erasing of lines between schools of nritta—pure dance. As more
dancers engage in yoga and athletic activity, classical dance is moving towards
perfection of form. Savitha focuses on clean lines and careful delineation of
poses, and turns the space around her into geometric perfection.
The bharatanatyam costume is silk, and the traditional nine-yard sari has been replaced
with a silk pajama with v-shaped pleated cloth. The dancer's jewelry reflects
ornaments worn by ancient temple deities, and her makeup emphasizes her
ever-moving eyes and hands.
2009 PERFORMANCE
 Title: Anjali
Soloist: Savitha
Sastry
Anjali means "offering," and in this bharatanatyam performance, soloist
Savitha Sastry invokes the guardians of
different directions. The dance is
traditionally performed at the opening of temple-dance performances, to clear
the space of negative emotions. Savitha begins with a well-known sacred
gesture—the anjali mudra. With palms
pressed together, she offers unconditional thanksgiving. She raises the mudra to honor the gods; lowers it to
her temple to salute gurus and teachers; and holds it before her heart to greet
the audience. Then she lets go in an explosion of spontaneous dance.
The music is Carnatic classical music from
South India, one of the world's oldest forms. It was composed for this piece by veteran Carnatic composer
Meera Nathan and recorded in Fremont by Asha Ramesh, vocals; Ramesh Babu,
mridangam; Krishna Kutty, violin; and V.K. Raman, flute. Like Hindustani classical music, Carnatic music is comprised of ragas, or melodies, and taals, or rhythms; but its emphasis is on vocals.
The piece was created in 2006 by Savitha
Sastry, performed in an arangetram
(solo recital) in 2006 at Santa
Clara University,
and set again for this performance. Savitha
Sastry trained with gurus Dhananjayans and Adyar K. Laxman in Chennai for over
fifteen years, studied abhinaya facial expressions with Smt. Kalanidhi Narayan and percussion with Shri
Ramesh Babu. She has performed in television and film, choreographed and
directed full-length productions. She is Artistic Director of Sadhana Dance
Academy in San Jose,
formed in 2005.
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