University of Pittsburgh
Department of Music
presents
RAMAYANA:
A CROSS-CULTURAL DANCE DRAMA
OF INDIA AND INDONESIA
University of Pittsburgh Gamelan Ensemble
Andrew Weintraub, Director
and
Srishti Dances of India
Sreyashi Dey, Artistic Director
Guest Artists:
Sri Susilowati
Charu Collur
Ben Arcangel
Vijay Palaparty
Undang Sumarna
Bellefield Auditorium
March 23 and 24, 2001
Two Perspectives on the Ramayana
Artistic Statement by Sreyashi Dey
The Ramayana has been among the most important literary and oral texts of South Asia. Like a ballad it has been passed on to the present age by word of mouth. The Ramayana in India is composed of verses called shlokas, in high Sanskrit and a complex meter called anustup. These verses are grouped into individual chapters called sargas, wherein a specific event or intent is told. These chapters or sargas are grouped into books called kandas; Kanda refers to the inter-node stem of sugar cane, and also a particular phase of the story or an event in the course of story telling.
Several regional versions of Ramayana exist in India. Among the more prominent ones are those written by Valmiki (2nd century BC, Sanskrit), Kamban (12 century, Tamil), Krittivasa (14th century, Bengali), and Tulsidas (16th century, Avadhi old Hindi). Irrespective of the variations in the different versions, in all of them Rama is eulogized as the epitome of perfection in man, having lived his whole life by the rules of dharma. This epic poem provides insights into many aspects of Indian culture and continues to influence the politics, religion and art of modern India. The influence of the Ramayana on the Indian psyche is deep-rooted, igniting passion and fervor in the masses in some situations as well as providing personal peace and spiritual upliftment in others. People identify strongly with the version of Ramayana they have grown up with, believing it to be the authentic one, often quite unaware that variations exist.
The drama of this timeless epic will unfold before you this evening through classical music and dance from India, as well as Sundanese gamelan music and dance from Java, woven together by English narration. I will therefore touch upon two other aspects of Ramayana: the relevance of the traditional interpretation and the artistic/creative process of this collaboration.
In the traditional representation, the Ramayana exalts in submissive females. Sita is seen as the perfect wife, always obedient to her husband Rama, even while undergoing exile and banishment, and tests of her chastity. This is problematic to me as a contemporary South Asian and a woman. Just as Sita had been built up as an ideal Hindu female to help serve the patriarchal Brahminical system and silence women, the Rama myth has also been exploited to construct an ideal Hindu male.
The version we bring to you tonight is a traditional one. However, outside of the classical Brahminical canon, the Ramayana has been re-told from Sita’s perspective in several folk and regional women’s versions. In these versions, Sita has a voice all of her own; in them she speaks of her sufferings, of injustice, of loneliness and sorrow. As a woman, these versions are close to my heart. However, the beauty and drama of the story never fails to move me immensely even in its traditional rendering.
This collaboration has been rewarding and interesting on several levels. It has been personally educational for me to learn about the Ramayana in Indonesia. From a choreography and performative point of view, it was both challenging and exciting to combine the two dance and music traditions in a way that maintained the integrity of each of the styles but still created a unified experience. We were aided by the story itself, which tied all the elements together.
All of the Indian music and dances was composed and choreographed specifically for this production. It is important for me to point out that we took the risk of developing the music ensemble locally in Pittsburgh from a pool of talented musicians, rather than choose the safer alternative of using previously recorded music. Each of the musicians is an excellent solo performer in either Hindustani or Karnatik music styles, but this is the first time that the music ensemble has come together to jointly compose and perform thematic music to accompany dance. It was also a feat to bring together musicians from the two different styles to create the music together. But it was a risk well worth taking!
I chose to do the Indian dance choreography in the Bharata Natyam style rather than my primary Odissi style because of the broader scope it offered for choreographing the entire range of situations that we needed to depict. I am personally returning to Bharata Natyam after a hiatus of some years and I enjoyed working in this style very much.
I had the good fortune of being able to work with an extremely talented and dedicated group of artists, especially Andrew Weintraub. Much hard work went into this production and I want to thank everybody involved in this production for making it possible.
Producing the Ramayana by Andrew Weintraub
It has been an honor to produce, co-direct, and perform in this evening’s cross-cultural dance drama of the Ramayana. The Ramayana, along with the Mahabharata, is one of the two great epics of India. Rooted in Valmiki’s text written in India some two thousand years ago, the tale and its performance have spread to other parts of the world, making the Ramayana a global phenomenon. The story has captured the imagination of artists and audiences from India to Iran, Tibet to Thailand, Cambodia to China, Japan to Java, Malaysia to Myanmar, and Sri Lanka to Siberia. While the plot of the epic is basically the same in these diverse cultures of the world, its artistic presentation varies widely across cultures (and within the cultures themselves).
For over a thousand years, the Ramayana has provided dramatic material for theater and dance performances in Indonesia. Indian culture, along with trade and religion, was transported to Southeast Asia during the first millennium of the Christian era. Indian lore, along with artistic expressive forms, were transplanted and reworked on Indonesian soil. In contemporary Indonesia, this tale of devotion, separation, and reunion represents a vital link to the past, kept alive through a variety of dramatic, musical, and narrative theatre forms.
The concept for this cross-cultural dance drama came from several sources. Undang Sumarna, who introduced me to Indonesian music in 1983, initially discussed the idea with me after a concert in Pittsburgh in March, 2000. Sreyashi Dey was in the audience that night and we met on-stage after the show. The three of us began tossing around ideas about working together and the Ramayana emerged as a perfect meeting ground for Indian and Indonesian performing arts. A few months later, I became aware of colleagues in California who had produced joint productions of Indian and Indonesian performing arts. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the premier Balinese gamelan group in the U.S., had collaborated on a Ramayana production with the Abhinaya Dance Company in 1997. The artistic success of their professional production gave Sreyashi and me the confidence that something of this scope and magnitude could be accomplished. As I discussed the production with colleagues, it became clear that the Ramayana has long been a lightening rod for South and Southeast Asian artistic and scholarly activities. Entire conferences have been held to discuss the role of the Ramayana in the literature, culture, and performing arts of this region!
Our first objective for this program was to educate audiences about the Ramayana, one of the world’s great epics. Our second goal was to provide insight into some of the natural connections that exist between Indonesian and Indian performing arts. For example, many of the pieces in this evening’s concert are organized around cyclic temporal structures; codified hand gestures in both traditions tell stories; narrative and plot are often secondary to character types, whose actions are predictable. These and other parallels will become apparent as the dance drama unfolds this evening. Finally, we hope to create an aesthetically rich and innovative performance that will make students and lay people of Pittsburgh aware of the theater, music, and dance in this part of the world.
We began the production process with the narration, which I compiled from various sources: the Sekar Jaya/Abhinaya production, English translations of the Ramayana in verse, and scholarly writings about the Ramayana in Indonesian and Indian performing arts. We chose to focus on selected scenes of the epic, and to present the core narrative involving the famous characters Rama, Sita, Ravana, and Hanuman. We chose scenes that are established in performance traditions of both India and Indonesia; in these scenes there are set ways of doing things. We focused on scenes that Pittsburgh audiences know and love, as well as those that we thought would capture the hearts of the uninitiated. The script was fine-tuned in rehearsals to make the narration more dramatically effective and interesting.
Musical pieces were chosen for their ability to depict characters and create dramatic “moods.” The music for scenes involving gamelan in this performance falls into three categories: 1) character-specific pieces; 2) scene-specific pieces; and 3) “mood” music. Pieces for specific characters and scenes were set by Sundanese composers and choreographers in Bandung, West Java, during the 1950s. Character-specific pieces include those used to accompany solo dances (such as Ravana’s dance, the dance of the golden deer, and the peacock dance). Scene-specific pieces include the song “Kidung,” which accompanies the death of Jatayu, the bird king. In other cases, we picked from a variety of pieces to provide moods for scenes. For example, “Banjaran,” with its stately and calm mood, works well as accompanying music for King Janaka as he is tilling the soil in the opening scene.
The gamelan group rehearsed independently for several months before the guest artists arrived a week before the concert. Although we rehearsed the musical pieces beforehand, the musicians did not have the opportunity to work with the dancers until a few days ago. Further, they had to adjust to the sound of a different drummer. Pitt students worked well under these conditions, and they learned about the flexibility, sense of humor, and humility required of musicians in this genre of theater. For example, tempo and dynamic changes as well as transitions between pieces are not pre-set, but cued by the drummer.
World music performance is a strong component of undergraduate education in music at the University of Pittsburgh. Participation and performance in a non-Western musical ensemble improves musical analytical skills, increases cross-cultural sensitivity, and broadens students’ understanding of the scope of human musical activity. Gamelan performance programs under my direction have introduced hundreds of students to new ways of thinking about, practicing, performing, and composing music.
This large-scale performance enabled students to study with artists-in-residence for a week before the concert. During their residency, guest artists worked with gamelan students every evening for about six hours per day. Guest artists also presented additional activities during the week that directly impacted a large number of students. Activities this year included a dance workshop with Sri Susilowati; a lecture-demonstration on music and dance by Undang Sumarna and Ben Arcangel; and a drumming workshop by Undang Sumarna.
I am particularly excited about the cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural elements of this project. Multi-media productions are typical of the performing arts in South and Southeast Asia; that is, one cannot fully understand music without studying dance, theater, and narrative. By putting these elements together, and creating an innovative framework for interpreting them, we hope to bring some of the richness and diversity of the world’s cultures to Pittsburgh.
Sundanese Dance and Music of Indonesia
The modern nation of Indonesia consists of about 13,000 islands (of which a few thousand are populated), the fourth largest population in the world, hundreds of ethnic groups, and nearly as many languages spoken. The cultural and musical diversity of this modern island community is staggering. The University of Pittsburgh gamelan ensemble plays the music of the Sundanese people of Java, Indonesia. Sometimes referred to as “Sunda,” the western third of the island of Java is home to the approximately 25-30 million Sundanese, who make up the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia. More specifically, Sunda is a geographical, historical, and cultural construct which signifies “home” for the Sundanese people. While the majority of the population live in rural or semi-rural settings, large cities have become increasingly central to the creation of new artistic genres. Bandung, the fourth largest city in Indonesia, is home to a large number of Sundanese musicians, dancers, and professional groups. The national radio and television station, as well as many local radio stations, publishing houses, and the most prominent recording studios make Bandung the center for the mass mediation of Sundanese music.
Sundanese Dance
In Indonesia, dance has developed in conjunction with ceremonial and religious rituals, popular entertainment, court culture, modern drama, and avant-garde artistic expression. Classical dance forms are part of elaborate dance drama productions in which dance functions to distinguish different types of characters, ranging from refined to course characterizations. Dancers use elaborate costumes and masks to portray different character types. Javanese classical dance appears rather abstract, but the movement patterns are all designed to contribute to the portrayal of characters.
Sundanese classical dance, while based on Javanese forms, has developed its own unique style and repertoire. One of the most important features of Sundanese dance is its close connection to the drumming, which is loud, dynamic and exciting. All Sundanese dance genres share certain traits including the prominent drumming, manner of stepping, and graceful arm gestures. In dance music, the drummer accompanies the movements of the dance by playing corresponding sound patterns for each movement.
Sunda did not have kraton (palaces) like its Central Javanese counterpart. In Sunda, the closest equivalent to the Central Javanese kraton were the kabupaten (provincial government seats), which had neither the resources nor the influence to maintain, develop, and preserve dance traditions such as those of the Central Javanese kraton. Dance was performed in the kabupaten and patronized by the bupati (governors), but limited resources necessitated bringing artists in from the surrounding community to perform in the kabupaten. As a result, music and dance traditions were developed within artistic families rather than in the courts.
Sundanese dance has been greatly influenced by a genre of mask dance called Topeng Cirebon. Topeng literally means “mask,” and Cirebon is a coastal city on the north coast of Java. Cirebon, the home to one of the oldest Islamic kingdoms in Java, is culturally and artistically a blending of Javanese and Sundanese traditions. A performance of Topeng Cirebon consists of a series of five dances, each portraying a different character. Klana, also called Rahwana (Ravana), is the fifth and final character. Rahwana is greedy, lawless, and wild; his dark red mask symbolized unrestrained passions. Though the character has negative and demonic connotations, it represents an important side of human existence. The masks (kedok) cover the entire face (the dancer has limited vision as he or she can see only through slits cut under the lower eyelids of the mask-face). The dancer bites on a small leather strap affixed to the inside of the mask to hold it in place.
During the early twentieth century, influential dancers and choreographers participated in a “renaissance” of Sundanese music and dance. Their efforts to systematize and consolidate Sundanese forms, particularly within the city of Bandung, have continued to the present day. The “peacock dance” in tonight’s program, for example, is a relatively recent dance choreographed by the well-known dancer Irawati Durban during the 1980s. Sundanese dance is performed at life-cycle celebrations, social events, and religious as well as civil holidays. Dance events are essentially communal and provide an opportunity to enjoy other activities as well.
Sundanese Gamelan Music
Gamelan refers to a set of predominantly percussion instruments including tuned gongs, metal-keyed instruments, and drums (as well as bowed lute and voice). Gamelan music is played as accompaniment to dance, drama, puppet theater, and martial arts, as well as for concerts of listening music. Gamelan is performed for special occasions and to mark important life cycle events.
Each gamelan has a unique tuning and character--instruments in one set are tuned to each other and are not interchangeable with instruments from other sets. Gamelan sets are often named to reflect their individual character. The University of Pittsburgh gamelan, which arrived in October, 1995, is named appropriately “Kyai Tirta Rukmi,” or “Venerable Rivers of Gold.” The gamelan is actually comprised of two sets of instruments, and each set is tuned to a different intervallic structure (laras). The set used in tonight’s concert is tuned to laras salendro, a five-tone tuning system made up of approximately equidistant intervals.
Each instrument is associated with one of four primary musical functions or roles, which contribute to the rich polyphonic layering or strata of sound. The “structural melody,” usually played on the metal-keyed instruments, is the basic underlying melodic foundation for each piece. “Elaboration,” played on the rebab (bowed lute), gambang (xylophone), and bonang (small kettle gongs on a rack), refers to melodic variation and ornamentation based on the structural melody. “Punctuation,” played on the large and small hanging gongs and kenong (large kettle gongs on a rack), refers to the temporal marking of important points in the rhythmic cycle. Finally, the “time-keeping” function is realized by the drummer, who signals the beginning and ending of pieces, directs tempo changes, and controls the dynamics of the music.
Dance and Music of India
Indian Classical Dance: Bharata Natyam
“Angikam Bhuvanam Yasya, Vachikam Sarva Vangmayam,
Aharyam Chandra Taradi, Tam Namo, Satvikam Shivam”
“O benevolent Shiva, whose dance is the whole of the cosmos, the music to which is all of creation, who is adorned with the moon and stars for jewels, and whose abhinaya is eternal, I bow to you.”
With such beautiful imagery do the ancient Indian texts describe Shiva, the Hindu cosmic dancer and his dance. Abhinaya refers to emotion. This shloka, or verse, provides insight into the essentials of Indian classical dance -- movement, costuming, and music -- discussed in the following section.
A celebrated art form, Bharata Natyam is a dynamic and earthy dance style. Probably the best way to understand the dance is through the three syllables that makeup its name - Bha-Ra-Tha. BHA - can be said to denote Bhava or expression and in this dance the wide repertoire of expressions employed by the dancer are fascinatingly varied. RA - can be said to denote the Raga or the component of music to which this dance is inextricably linked. TA - can be said to denote Tala or rhythm and this dance is packed with complex and complicated fractional rhythms where dancers slice time and pulverize it with a vast repertoire of steps and patterns created as their feet strike the ground. The name of the dance could also be attributed to the treatise on theatre, the Natyashastra, penned by the legendary Indian sage Bharata Muni, which enunciated the rules of ancient Indian theatre.
Movement
Bharata Natyam is a vibrant form of dance that is very demanding on the dancer. In its geometric movements, the body is visualized as two triangles, one above and one below the torso. The form is based upon a balanced distribution of body weight and firm positions of the lower limbs, allowing the hands to cut into a line, to flow around the body, or to take positions that enhance the basic form.
In its execution, the dance is geometric and symmetrical and space is carved with the arms sharply in circles, squares, and triangles. Bharata Natyam dancers, like the sculptures they take their positions from, always dance with knees bent, in a posture called arai-mandi. Basic movement patterns called adavus are strung together to form movement phrases called korvais. Complex korvais become jatis or theermanams.
To assist in its primary goal of narrating tales, Bharata Natyam employs a vast repertoire of hand gestures that become a dictionary of references both for the artist and the viewers. These single-hand and two-hand gestures are used to convey objects, nouns, verbs, as well as to enhance the dancer's moods and expressions.
The repertoire of a Bharata Natyam dancer is extensive. The repertoire as it is danced today is a synthesis of the two main elements of classical dance- nritta and nritya. The present format of a performance has been drawn from the outline laid out by the Tanjore quartet. In contemporary performances items may be modified or even left out, yet, the traditional, two and a half-hour performance should contain these elements.
The rich technique and repertoire of this dance style lends itself to be used in the choreography of dance dramas, where multiple dancers play the roles of a wide range of characters in order to communicate a story.
Costume
Costume has been an integral feature of Bharata Natyam ever since its inception. Sculptures of dancers portray women bare above the waist with a dhoti style garment below. Later on, they began to tie a cloth above the waist, which was later modified into a blouse. The sari was wrapped around to pass between the legs, dhoti style. The current costume evolved sometime during the 1930’s.
The glamour of this classical dance from South India is indeed its dazzling costumes made from the world-famous Kanchipuram silk sarees woven in Tamil Nadu. The costumes are crafted from these elaborately woven sarees, which are stitched in several alluring styles. The most essential adornment is the pair of ankle bells, called ghungroos. Stitched on to a leather or cloth piece that is then tied around the ankles, over the costume, the sound of the bells provides a voice to the intricate rhythms sounded by the dancer's feet.
The jewelry adorning Bharata Natyam dancers is also noteworthy. Ornaments are made in the Thanjavoor “temple” style where glass stones are studded on gilded metal. Earrings, nose rings, necklaces (one long and one choker-style), armlets, and bracelets are all conventions of this style. Most distinctive is the "talai saman" or the jewel that frames the face's forehead contours. The rakoddi worn at the return to top of the head provides an anchor for the rows and rows of brightly colored flowers, which the dancers wear. The hair is decorated with the "suryaprabha" and the "chandra prabha" jewels.
Indian Classical Music
The Indian Classical Music ensemble in this performance is comprised of several instruments including violin, flute, sitar, harmonium, tabla, mridangam and manjira (cymbals or bells), as well as vocalists. The style of music presented tonight will be mainly from North India accompanied by two different percussion instruments that belong to two different genres: the tabla is played in the Hindustani or North Indian style and the mridangam is played in the Karnatik or south Indian style.
The classical system of Indian music called Raga Sangeet can be traced back nearly two thousand years to its origin in the Vedic hymns of the Hindu temples, the fundamental source of all Indian music. Indian classical music is principally based on raga (melodic aspects) and tala (rhythmic aspects). A raga is a melodic form with its own specific ascending and descending movement. In addition to scale, each raga is characterized by modal organization, specific ornaments and embellishments (gamakas), and characteristic melodic phrases. Ragas are associated with times of the day, seasons, as well as the locality of origin. Finally, every raga has its own particular rasa or mood. Talas are the rhythmic cycles of a raga. There are talas ranging from a three-beat cycle to cycles with 108 beats.
Tonight’s music incorporates various elements of the Hindustani or North Indian style. The alaap is a slow abstract introductory section of a raga that is constructed by the vocalist or the musician extemporaneously. The songs are based on different rags or melodic patterns which have their own unique ascending and descending scale of notes.
Srishti Dances of India is the only Indian dance company in Pittsburgh that has worked locally to develop a large ensemble of Indian classical musicians to accompany the company’s dance productions. Presenting classical dance to the accompaniment of live classical music enhances the aesthetic experience of audiences, and has provided the impetus for talented Indian classical instrumentalists and vocalists to come together to perform as an ensemble.
Featured Artists
Undang Sumarna comes from a lineage of famous drummers and musicians. His grandfather and main teacher, Abah Kayat, helped to develop and crystallize a style of dance drumming during the 1950s which incorporated influences from the music of Central Java, Bali, Cirebon, and various Sundanese regional styles. Undang began studying drumming as a child and quickly developed into one of the most sought-after dance drummers in Bandung, West Java. He has taught gamelan at KOKAR (High School for Indonesian Performing Arts) and ASTI (College of Indonesian Arts) as well as UC Berkeley and UCLA. Undang Sumarna currently teaches at UC Santa Cruz, a position he has held since 1974. In addition to introducing thousands of American students to Sundanese music, he has toured throughout the United States as an “Ambassador of Sundanese Arts.”
Sreyashi Dey received her Odissi training from renowned teachers Guru Mayadhar Raut and Guru Harekrishna Behera. In addition, Sreyashi also trained extensively in Bharata Natyam under Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan (Pandanallur style) and Guru Lalita Shastri (Kalakshetra style). She has performed in many prestigious dance festivals throughout India, including those organized by premier institutions including Sahitya Kala Parishad, Sangeet Natak Akademi, India International Center and Indian Council for Cultural Relations and in numerous programs on Indian TV. Sreyashi has lived in Pittsburgh since 1995. In addition to her work as a teacher and performer, she is active as a choreographer of new pieces in the traditional Odissi style as well as new choreographies and collaborations with artists across genres. Her new and thought-provoking works are enhanced by her strong classical roots, juxtaposed against contemporary concerns and sensibilities. In addition to dance, Sreyashi pursues a parallel career in marketing management. She has a Masters degree in Economics and an MBA in business.
Sri Susilowati, born in West Java, Indonesia, began studying classical dance at age seven and was performing at age ten. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance composition from the Indonesian Institute of Arts in 1990, and served as choreographer for the national rock music tour and film project “Kantata Takwa.” She moved to the United States in 1993, where she established an Indonesian dance studio in California. Her work has centered on revitalizing and adapting traditional concepts of Indonesian dance, as well as its rich vocabulary of movement. Sri Susilowati is currently pursuing an advanced degree in World Arts and Cultures at UCLA.
Charu Collur began learning classical music at the age of eight. She was an All India Radio Junior Artist for many years and received several prizes for singing. Currently she is a student of Tripti Muherjee, a leading disciple of the great maestro Pt Jasraj. She has performed in concerts and music festivals throughout the United States.
Ben Arcangel recently completed his undergraduate degree in Theatre and Indonesian studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Under the auspices of a student fellowship from the Indonesian government, he studied at the music and dance conservatory in Bandung, West Java during 1998-99. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Dance Ethnology from the University of Hawai‘i.
Vijay Palaparty is an undergraduate studying professional writing and anthropology at Carnegie Mellon University. Vijay studied Kuchipudi with Dr. K. Uma Rama Rao, and Bharata Natyam with Padma Rajagopal. Vijay is also a student of Professor Sudharani Raghupathy, who is the president and principle dance teacher of Shree Bharatalaya, a pre-eminent institution for Indian Classical Dance. Vijay has been studying and performing both Kuchipudi and Bharata Natyam for the past 10 years, and has been giving recitals throughout the United States, India, Canada, and Australia.
Andrew Weintraub is a scholar, teacher, and performer of Asian music, particularly the music of Indonesia. He holds degrees in music from UC Santa Cruz (B.A.), University of Hawai‘i (M.A.), and UC Berkeley (Ph.D.). His articles have appeared in edited books and journals Recent publications include a complete English translation and text transcription of an all-night Sundanese puppet theater performance, and articles on music of ethnic communities in Hawai‘i. As a practitioner of Indonesian gamelan and martial arts, he has performed in the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe. Weintraub joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 1997. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in ethnomusicology and popular music, and he directs the University of Pittsburgh gamelan program. He is currently completing a book manuscript that traces the relationship between performing arts, culture, and politics in Indonesia during the New Order, 1966-1998.
Performers The University of Pittsburgh Gamelan Ensemble, led by Andrew Weintraub, is a student group that studies, practices, and performs Sundanese music of West Java, Indonesia. The ensemble presents several concerts during each academic year, and regularly invites guest artists from Indonesia to participate in workshops, lecture-demonstrations, rehearsals, and concerts. The ensemble is composed of students as well as community members. The participants in the gamelan program are encouraged to use Sundanese processes of learning as much as possible; oral transmission of musical parts is preferred over written notation. Students are also encouraged to learn and play more than one instrument and to learn the relationships among them. Therefore, in our concerts, the musicians move from one position to another in order to put into practice what they have learned. The University of Pittsburgh Music Department offers classes in Gamelan, Jazz, and African music and dance as part of its program in Ethnomusicology. Please visit our website at http://www.pitt.edu/~anwein/gamelan/ Srishti Dances of India is a Pittsburgh-based Indian Classical dance company formed in 1998. It has been active in disseminating India’s cultural heritage to the general public through performances of Indian classical dance, music, and theatre. The company also plays an educational role in the community and has organized lecture-demonstrations, multi-media presentations, and presentations at national academic dance conferences. Formal instruction in Indian classical dance is also offered through the company. Srishti is led by Sreyashi Dey, a renowned performer and choreographer, trained in the Odissi and Bharata Natyam styles of Indian classical dance. Srishti’s endeavors are marked by high artistic quality rooted in the rigorous traditional arts of India, innovative choreography, breadth of vision (both within and cross-cultural), and the infusion of contemporary thought into the practice of ancient art forms. While remaining rooted in Indian classical dance, Srishti is constantly expanding its horizons through innovative works and cross-cultural collaborations with artists from around the world. The company has collaborated with artists and troupes including the Mary Miller Dance Company, UMOJA, and storyteller Alison Babusci. Dancers Sita: Sreyashi Dey Rama: Vijay Palaparty Lakshmana: Vanita Gopalakrishnan Hanuman, Jatayu, and Peacock: Sri Susilowati Ravana and Golden Deer: Ben Arcangel Women in the kingdom Seema Keswani Jyotsna Diwadkar Sowmya Mahadevan Rashi Venkataraman Zara Choudhury King Janak: Lisa Di Gioia Sita as a girl and her young friends Ishika Rajan Kritika Rajan Divya Krishnan Divya Varindani Maya Bidanda Vidya Keshavan Samhita Collur Kiran Gupta Arpa Mukherjee Archana Ramgopal Narrator Andrew Weintraub Indian Classical Music Ensemble Vocals: Charu Collur, Ramgopal SrinivasanHarmonium: Vishnu DharmadhikariTabla: Asish SinhaMridangam: Jayanth BalasubramanianViolin: Shankar KrishnanFlute: Ajit RanganathanSitar: Vidyadhara BuddhirajuNattuvangam (cymbals): Ravi Balasubramanian The University of Pittsburgh Gamelan Ensemble Pamela Baumiller Michael Beuselinck Ardi Kuhn Sunil Patel Christopher Peak Sarah Perone Elizabeth Perri Eric Riemer Matthew Schult Gabriel Simon Brenda Spencer Drake Wilson Acknowledgments This concert would not have been possible without the generous support of the following University of Pittsburgh programs, units, and departments: Department of Music, University Center for International Studies, the Asian Studies Program, Semester at Sea, Nationality Rooms Programs, PittArts, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The Pitt Gamelan would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance and support of the gamelan program: Dean Beverly Harris-Schenz, Dr. Max Brandt, Dr. Patricia Stranahan, Diana Wood, Dr. William Brustein, Dr. Wolfgang Schloer, Maxine Bruhns, Jen Saffron, Dr. David Brodbeck, Dorothy Shallenberger, Phil Thompson, Undang Sumarna, Vaibhav Diwadkar, Dr. Balwant Dixit, Rick Easton, Hee-sun Kim, Richard Pell, Lei Bryant, Angela Gardner, and Justin Repasky. Srishti Dances of India April Concert Srishti will present its spring season concert on Saturday, April 28, at 7 pm in the Eddy Theatre at Chatham College. The program, titled “Ancient Rhythms: A Tapestry of Indian Classical Dance, Yoga and Storytelling” will explore links between Odissi and Yoga, woven together through storytelling. It is a collaboration between Sreyashi Dey and Yoga practitioner and storyteller Alison Babusci. The evening will also feature “Meghadutam,” a dance drama in Odissi and Bharata Natyam. Saturday, April 28, 7pmEddy Theatre, Chatham College$10 general admission$8 students/seniorsTickets for “Ancient Rhythms” are available by calling Pro Arts at (412) 394-3353. More information on Srishti is available at: http://sobers.gsia.cmu.edu/sreyashi