Dance me to the end of love'

What: Anamika - A search for Krishna
When: Dec. 7, 6 pm and 8 pm
Where: Alliance Francaise, Vasanthnagar

Seeking one's myth has found its place in philosophies across the world, from Rumi to Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Still, it is a rare individual indeed who asks the larger questions of life. "Most often, we're given a schedule by which we live. It doesn't occur to too many people to ask the question 'why'," said Odissi dancer Meghna Das, whose production, Anamika - A search for Krishna, is back in Bengaluru once more.
It is the story of the woman who dares to question. "I was completely taken by the idea of finding one's passion, the spark that makes our everyday worthwhile," said Meghna. "The idea of letting what you love destroy you also intrigued me a great deal."

Anamika combines three dance forms in separate vignettes - Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Kathak. Anamika, the titular character, portrayed by Lekha Naidu, represents the young woman of today. Dancers Preethi Bharadwaj, Pooja Pant and Meghna Das come together with classical dance pieces that collaborate with theatre to bring the loftiest philosophies alive in our everyday existence. "As an Odissi dancer, I read the Geetu Govind, which sparked off an interest in Bhakti literature," said Das. "I loved the idea that you don't need to be a cerebral person to find true faith or philosophy. The Bhakti way finds enlightenment through the smallest things."

Simply put, Anamika explores the characters of three women whose lives were touched and guided by Lord Krishna. Far from taking on religious connotations, however, Meghna attempts to do what so many mystics have done before her – find the miracle in the mundane. "We're all looking for something," Das remarked. "We want something that we can put our faith in  - our children, or an important relationship, someone who helped us when nobody else did, or even a career. Either way, we're all in constant pursuit of that Something – the reason we give ourselves for getting out of bed every morning."

The stories are ones we have heard before, as children, although it never occurred to us to relate to them. That’s where the beauty lies in Bhakti poetry – it veers away from the idea of God as a purely abstract, unattainable concept. "Anamika is the modern woman taking a closer look at stories that were told many centuries ago," Meghna explained.

"We all want something in which we can place our faith." Perhaps it is finding one's passion in the midst of turmoil, of seeking God in the heart of suffering and of loving so deeply that the very object of our affections contains within it the seeds of our destruction.