Week 6, part two, classical Indian dance at the Kennedy Centre and Georgetown waterfront

The outline of Georgetown University, founded 1789. It's the oldest Jesuit and Catholic university in the United States. 

 Throughout my time in D.C I've returned to the Georgetown waterfront. I've seen it from all angles now, from a kayak in the middle of the Potomac river, walking over the bridge from Rosslyn, walking down from Georgetown itself, and as a passenger in cars driving towards Virginia. I think I can honestly say that it's one of my favourite parts of the city.

The Kennedy Center

Unknown to many, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts gives free performances everyday on its Millennium Stage (6pm Eastern Time), and these performances are then broadcast live over the internet. The idea, similar to that of the Shakespeare Folger library, is that the arts should be accessible to everyone. By their own admission; "these performances of music, theater, and dance feature emerging and established artists from the Washington area. across the nation, and around the world".

 

We were able to watch a performance by the Kalanidhi Dance company. The company is based in D.C, but draws heavily from classical Indian dance, namely the Kuchipudi style (an ancient type of dance focusing on "fleeting emotions, fluidity and religious devotions") . I've never seen Indian dance before aside from films, in which dances sequences were usually Slumdog millionaire style, and performed at the end of a film. In reality you notice the detail and complexity, every finger and toe of every dancer seems to have its own routine, combined with all the other body parts to give an impression of continuous motion. This is then multiplied up as every dancer seeks to be in sync with the others, or working to temporarily define their own solo role within a sequence.

 

Luckily as well as purely expressive dance, there was a narrative to accompany the routines, outlined beforehand. This helped to explain a lot of the context to someone as ignorant as me concerning Hinduism. I can now say that I know several scenes from the life of Lord Krishna, especially his defeat of Kaliya (a giant poisonous river snake) and the dancer portraying the snake was incredible!)  

 

View towards Rosslyn, northern Virginia

So there you have it, where else can you; watch Indian classical dance, watch the sun set over the cityscape, and walk through an entire hall of flags (see http://www.kennedy-center.org/about/virtual_tour/hall_of_nations.html for a virtual tour) on a casual wednesday evening?