Vibrant Dance Ballet Presenting the Nava Rasas in Srimad Bhagavatam

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PEARLAND: Global Organization for Divinity/Namadwaar will present a bharatanatyam dance ballet – Bhakti Sugandham-The Fragrance of Devotion – on Dec 18, 4 pm at the CA Nelson auditorium at 2337 N Galveston Ave, Pearland TX 77581. The ballet will portray popular as well as lesser-known legends from Srimad Bhagavatam, the 5000-year-old crown jewel of all Puranas, highlighting the Nava Rasas (nine emotions) from the scripture – Courage, Wonder, Anger, Compassion, Disgust, Fearfulness, Love, Humor and Peace.

 Srimad Bhagavatam, which presents the essential message of bhakti, i.e. of Shravanam (listening to the stories of the Lord and His devotees as the seed for true devotion), contains deep philosophical discussions couched in the seemingly simple garb of stories of divine incarnations, kings and princesses, sages and devotees, devas and asuras. This scripture is said to emanate the fragrance of devotion and sprout devotion in anyone who reads it regularly. Legends from this beautiful text portraying each of the nine emotions will be presented in this performance, using the intricate, graceful and expressive medium of the classical Indian dance form of bharatanatyam.

The ballet weaves an English narrative with traditional Indian classical music, Sanskrit and Tamil devotional compositions of a contemporary Indian saint, His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, and original Sanskrit verses from the text itself. It is sure to have the audience riveted and enthralled!

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The production, which is a fundraiser for the nonprofit community activities of Global Organization for Divinity, has been put together largely by local artists. Surabi Veeraragavan, an accomplished dancer from Houston is the dance director and choreographer, Uma Ranganathan, an accomplished musician from Houston is the music director and vocalist. The concept, script and production was put together by G.O.D. volunteers from Houston, Minneapolis and India, with audio recording and production done in India. The dancer cast includes several experienced dancers and gurus from Houston and other cities including Surabi Veeraragavan, Soujanya Madhusudhan, Sandhya Raghuraman, Shobitha Arun and Meenakshi Venkataraman; and a number of talented dancers of all ages from around Houston – students of Smt.

Rathna Kumar, Smt. Padmini Chari, Smt. Indrani Parthasarathy, Smt. Sunanda Nair, Smt. Soujanya Madhusudhan and other gurus – Divya Koothan, Hema Naren, Jvalanti Prasad, Krishnaya Corbett, Pavithra Chandrasekaran, Radha Venkat, Ratna Ramaraju, Selvi Samy, Shriya Fruitwala, Shruti Natarajan, Varsha Vasu, Usha Prashanth, Zenitha Ram, Advaith Subramanian, Ananya Hariharasudhan, Madhura Sriram, Maithreyi Asthagiri, Maya Shankar, Sahana Thothadri.

Tickets are $15 advance purchase or $20 at the door on the day of the event. Donor/VIP passes with preferred seating are offered for donors $100, $250, $500 and above. To buy tickets online visit www.godivinity.org, or on phone, call 281-402-6585.

 Global Organization for Divinity (G.O.D.) is a nonprofit organization that aims to promote peace, harmony and universal love amid cultural diversity. G.O.D. is involved in several cultural, spiritual, and community service activities in the Houston area. G.O.D. frequently presents classical arts events in Houston and many cities around the world.