Ragamala Dance Company to perform multi-media show Feb. 8 at CSB

Dancers are graceful, athletic and able to communicate stories and feelings through the physical form.

But a Twin Cities-based dance company asks its dancers to be that and something else: life-sized pieces on a game board.

Ragamala Dance Company will perform “Written in Water” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Gorecki Family Theater, Benedicta Arts Center, College of Saint Benedict. The show is part of the 2019-20 Fine Arts Series at CSB and Saint John’s University.

The company is also leading workshops during its week-long residency at CSB/SJU.

“Written in Water” was choreographed by Aparna Ramaswamy and her mother, Ranee Ramaswamy, who founded the Minneapolis-based company in 1992.

Rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, the performance includes several immersive elements, including lighting projections on the floor and backdrop and live musicians (trumpet, violin, vocalists and Indian instruments santur, mridangam and nattuvangam.

The result is an enhanced performance that will make the viewer seem part of the experience in the intimate Gorecki Family Theater.

“Written in Water” is based on the ancient Indian game Paramapadam, known in the Western world as “Snakes and Ladders.” The classic board game “Chutes and Ladders” originated from Paramapadam. In the performance, the themes of this classic game are explored – the heights of ecstasy (ladders) and the depths of longing (chutes/snakes).

In Paramapadam, players move their pieces across a board consisting of 100 squares. They gain progress by ascending ladders or losing ground if they end up on a snake. The metaphor, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper, is the journey toward spiritual ascension, with ladders representing the virtues and snakes serving as temptations and vice.

In the Ragamala Dance Company’s performance of “Written in Water,” the dancers winding floor patterns were developed by playing hundreds of games of Paramapadam “in which they were life-sized pieces set on a game board,” the Tribune said.

But there’s more to the performance than just the outstanding dancers.

Composer Amir ElSaffar told reviewer Hayley Ross of the website Picture This Post that it took “over a year to create the composition for the performance, and it shows. There is a masterful pairing of music and dance in this performance.”

Leshav V created the lush paintings, which are projected onto the stage to create a mythic, mystical dance landscape. Additional artwork is provided by Nathan Christopher.

“‘Written in Water’ is not so heady that it evades entertainment,” the Chicago Tribune told readers. “Those of us with no knowledge at all about the cultural and philosophical nuances at play can simply sit back and take in a wholly magnificent piece of live art.”

Photo by Three Phase Multimedia

Tickets for Written in Water by the Ragamala Dance Company are $30 for adults, $27 for seniors, $23 for faculty and staff, $15 for youth and $10 for CSB/SJU students.

For tickets, call the Benedicta Arts Center Box Office at 320-363-5777 or order online.

The show will be preceded by an introduction to Bharatanatyam dance workshop at noon Feb. 8 in the Helgeson Dance Studio, BAC. Although the workshop is free, pre-registration is required, and is recommended for persons over 15.

“Written in Water” is sponsored by Mike and Karel Helgeson and the Intercultural and International Student Services at CSB and SJU.

Ragamala Dance Company is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The activity is also made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant and Arts Touring Grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.