Migration of Form
DRAMA CENTRE BLACK BOX, SINGAPORE
This work is not just a performance; it is a meditation on movement, an exploration of identity, and a testament to the power of art to transform and transcend.
Yāhi
Stamford arts centre black box
Choreographer Raka Maitra revisits the Abhinaya, taking elements of dance, theatre, and her very own choreographic language developed at Chowk in this re-imagining of the Gita Govinda by 12th century poet Jayadeva.
These Brief Encounters
Esplanade Annexe Studio
These Brief Encounters is a contemporary performance created in response to The Plague by Albert Camus, exploring how a novel published in 1947 captures the spirit of the present day.
Variations on a Theme
Esplanade theatre
In Variations on a Theme, odissi is approached in a similar fashion to how a Western classical music composer would when elaborating on a main theme. Experimenting with footwork, rhythm and tempo, the pared-down piece features three dancers and two musicians and is an invitation to relish in the intangible pleasures of a live performance.
Pallavi Through Abstraction
Drama centre black box, singapore
Chowk Productions returns to the live stage with Pallavi through Abstraction, the culmination of Raka Maitra’s Pallavi Series (2016–2018). In this “fitting conclusion to a ground-breaking series” (The Straits Times), four dancers emerge from the darkness, exhibiting a mesmerising synthesis of grace and dexterity, woven into an abstract landscape with live music by NADA (Safuan Johari and Rizman Putra).
Pallavi Through Abstractions
A digital presentation
Chowk’s first ever digital performance and Maitra’s final culmination of the Pallavi Series; this film delves deeper into the contemporary vocabulary that evolved through Maitra’s continuous exploration in deconstructing the classical to discover a new language of dance.
Pallavi With Stillness
esplanade theatre studio, singapore
INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE, NEW DEHLI
ICCR SATYAJIT RAY AUDITORIUM, KOLKATA
In Pallavi with Stillness, Raka Maitra's choreography works to deconstruct Odissi grammar by first isolating and then accenting torso movements—a stunning, mesmerizing feature of the dance’s repertoire.
from: The Platform
ESplanade theater studio, singapore
NATARANI AMPHITHEATRE, AHMEDABAD
Have you ever watched strangers on the street and wondered what their lives might be like? What are the stories behind their actions and movements? And how might you be connected to them in this great big world?
Pallavi in Time
ESPLANADE THEATER STUDIO, SINGAPORE
A pallavi is a repeated refrain in music. In Raka’s work, it refers to choreographic refrains or elaborations; a series of fluid, complex movements and shifts inspired by odissi but now devoid of story, character and context. In the end, it is just pure dance. And pleasure.
The Second Sunrise
ESPLANADE THEATER STUDIO, SINGAPORE
Kennedy center, washington, d.c.
The Second Sunrise is a response to contemporary Tamil poet Rudhramoorthy Cheran’s war anthology that looks at the embodied connection one has with one’s land, with one’s roots and loss.
Pallavi and Space
national museum of SINGAPORE gallery theater
Working well within the conventions of the traditional Indian dance of Odissi, Maitra’s choreography navigates abstract spaces constructed through rhythmic, melodic and geometric interventions of the form on the performer’s body.
From Another Land
ESPLANADE THEATER STUDIO, SINGAPORE
The poems of love, longing and belonging, coming from the displaced and often invisible builders of Singapore's urban environment, create a complex and poignant reflection on ideas of land and nation-building.
The Blind Age
ESPLANADE THEATER STUDIO, SINGAPORE
A choreographic rendition of Andha Yug*, one of modern India’s most acclaimed verse plays. This dance theatre work is a parable of our times, mirroring the catastrophic conflicts of the contemporary world that keeps nations, religions and cultures at siege.
Moon Princess
national cEnter for the performing arts, mumbai
A story about life, life in a society that we have created for ourselves where the magic is often lost because of expectations, attachments and norms.
You Cannot Look Away
drama center black box, singapore
The dance and the verses from Cheran's war anthology written after the Sri Lankan civil war in May 2009, look at the deep connection one has to one's land, to roots and to loss.
The Hungry Stones
Les hivernale (winter) festival, avignon, france
The Hungry Stones is dancer-choreographer Raka Maitra’s response to a short story written by Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali titled Khudito Pashan.
Circular Ruins
In Jorge Luis Borges short story The Circular Ruins, an experienced wizard, the archetype of the artist, sets about to create a human being with his magical powers of imagination.
Rubaiyat
In this production the dancers' bodies converse with the sea of ideas that Khayyam sets adrift in his work. Using technique of Odissi and contemporary vocabularies drawn from Indian movement traditions, they manifest many reflections of his poetry through the body and through music influenced by Sufism and Hindustani classicism.
Alchemy - Stone to Flesh
NATIONAL GALLERY, SINGAPORE
There is a centuries old relationship between sculpture and the classical dances of India. Throughout the subcontinent, dance forms like Odissi have inspired countless craftspeople to create relief, stone carvings, idols and statues for temples, palaces and even ordinary homes.
