Associate Artist Showcase: Variations On A Theme by Raka Maitra

VARIATIONS ON A THEME
By Raka Maitra
Thursday 15 July, Friday 16 July & Saturday 17 July, 8pm (Duration: 55 minutes)
The Substation Theatre
Admission: $15 (concession price for students and senior citizens) and $20
For all ticketing enquiries, please call 6337 7535 (Chris)
The performance will be followed by a post-show talk by Raka Maitra.
Presented by The Substation.

To read the critical essay written by Stephanie Burridge about this performance, please click here.

Variations On A Theme, Raka Maitra’s latest contemporary dance piece, invites the audience to be a part of the dancer’s journey through movement. A constantly evolving performance that is meant to be personally experienced, the audience can expect some truly evocative moments from the performance, created by the brilliant and emotional use of light, visuals, sound, texture and movement.

Classically trained in Odissi, the oldest surviving dance form of India, Raka has focused on developing a contemporary dance form that is uniquely her own. By drawing from the classical structure of Odissi and infusing it with her own interpretations and experimentations, Raka goes beyond classical movements to create an entirely unique contemporary dance experience.

In Variations On A Theme, Raka plays around with the beat, creating new dance movements within a fixed structure. Inspired by the lighting and music during a performance, Raka improvises and instantly creates new, spontaneous movements while onstage.

For this dance piece, Raka combines balance, control, speed, coordination and a rich movement vocabulary to initiate an intimate dialogue with the audience expressed through the magical, intense language of dance.

Workshop:

MASTER-CLASSES FOR VARIATIONS ON A THEME
Dates: Friday 16 July & Saturday 17 July
Venue: The Substation Theatre
Time: 10am to 2pm
Fees: $30 (discount package: 1 workshop session + 1 show)
Min/max no. of participants: 7 to 12 people
Attire: non- restrictive stretch pants and t-shirts  
Age: 12 years old and above
Registration: please email registration@substation.org
Last day of registration: Wednesday 14 July, before 8pm.
Open to students, freelance dancers and members of the public with at least a year of movement training like dance, yoga, or martial arts.

Odissi is a highly stylised dance form with a strong technique and profound literary content from Orissa, East India. These elements combined with its lyrical grace, makes it one of the most challenging yet widely appreciated forms of classical Indian dance.

During this workshop, Raka Maitra will impart the basic techniques of Odissi. Participants will also be exposed to the exercises that were used to develop Raka’s own unique contemporary dance vocabulary for Variations On A Theme.

The workshop will be highly beneficial for dance and theatre practitioners, as well as for anyone who is interested in gaining an insight into this unique and meaningful dance form.

Do also stay back after the performance for a post-show talk with Raka Maitra herself!

Biography:

Raka Maitra
Choreographer and Dancer

Raka calls herself a dancer without the classifications of classical or contemporary. Her journey is an exploration, and in her works one will find various influences of Odissi, Chhau, Kalari and Yoga. In 2008, she was appointed as an Associate Artist of The Substation.

Raka graduated with a diploma in Performing Arts from the Children’s Little Theatre in Kolkata. She then went on to specialise in Odissi under Padmashree Madhavi Mudgal and the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. Raka also studied Seraikella Chhau under Guru Sashadhar Acharya.

Raka received the “Shringar Mani”, a national level award, for Odissi in 1999. She has also been featured in many important festivals in the U.S.A, Malaysia, Hongkong, Russia, Spain, U.K, Australia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Myanmar and India.

In the last few years, Raka has organised and co-choreographed the contemporary production Masks of Gods at Kamani in Delhi, and choreographed and produced Karma Yoga at Esplanade Theatre Studio. Raka also co-organised the Grey Festival, a contemporary Indian dance festival featuring performances, workshops, screenings and forums.  Raka has also held numerous productions at The Substation, including Smoking Incense and Stray Birds (2007), Boundaries…Dreams…Beyond… (2008), In Mira (2009) and Circular Ruins  (2009).

Raka is currently exploring the different dimensions of Indian contemporary dance in her roles as the co-director of the Grey Festival and as the Artistic Director of Chowk, a centre for Odissi dance.

Reviews:

On Boundaries…Dreams…Beyond

“Her deep grounding in technique was evident in the facility in with which she executed and incorporated abhinayas and mudras. However the usage was far removed from classical Indian dance…..taken in new directions……..the experimentation ….is a great big grand jete forward!”
– Jamaluddin b.Jalil (Dance Europe)

“Maitra’s journey is both psychological and various tidal forces…her body is her primary tool of communication…..holds full attention….Maitra moves articulately, full of feminity and strength.”
– Bec Tudor (Real Time Australia)

On IN MIRA

“With great courage and perhaps audacity, Raka steps outside safe boundaries and blurs the lines of tradition….each and every movement reflects the artistic investment that has been lovingly put into the work.”
– Jamludin Bin Jalil (Dance Europe)

“Striking element in the dance performance is Raka’s ability to choreograph and perform a contemporary dance sequence, while keeping the Indian choreographic language in place…….the maturity of her work that has through years taken shape, in the spirit of a young master in the making.”
– Richard Chua (Theatex Asia)