This is the online compendium documenting my process of engaging with choreography. I make a dance piece that was performed by the undergraduate students of Kenyon College. This pieces serves as my PaR component of for surfacing the Mahari practice in a creative reenactment in concert performance.
Name: Alasa-Kanya: Sculpture in Odissi (2016)
Date of Performance: December 8, 9, and 10 2016
Venue: Hill Theater, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio
Length: 12 minutes
Description: I choreographed this piece with my cast for the Fall Dance Concert at Kenyon College.
Durable Document: It is documented in u.osu.edu/choreography.
Video
Here, I describe my choreographic process of surfacing the Mahari in choreography. Together with my cast, the undergraduate students of Kenyon College, I create Alasa-Kanya: Sculpture in Odissi. Alasa-Kanya is a female sculptural figure mythically deemed to be the ancestor of the historical Mahari. In this inquiry, I search for the Mahari by tracing movement in the sculptural Alasa-Kanyas on the Odisha temple-walls.
Pankti Dalal emulating the Mahari in Pahuda Alati or the evening ritual in the Jagannath temple. A still from Alasa-Kanya: Sculpture in Odissi