SANSKRIT IN SESSION ON OUR RURAL OUTREACH

We welcomed Ms. Hetal of The O.P. Zatakia High School to our Rural Outreach program this time round (September 2023) as she so generously introduces our Girls to the magic, beauty, power and significance of the SANSKRIT language to our historic Art form, in their beautiful mother tongue of Gujarati.

Our girls listen, absorb, learn couplets (shlokas) from the ancient language that has been the foundation and origin of so many others and most importantly, note the inescapable link between Sanskrit and Indian Classical Dance.

Sanskrit literature is the beginning of everything that was ever codified about Indian Classical Dance ever since time can measure. And it is important for us to know the influence this great language has had on our Art and how the enormity of its words translates into Dance - the hidden language of the soul and the most efficient form of non-verbal communication.

Our Girls began with a Ganesha Stotra (a couplet in praise of Lord Ganesha) in the spirit of the times - as the country celebrates Ganeshotsav.

We are so grateful to Ms. Hetal for giving us so much of her wisdom, Junoon and the mother of all languages - SANSKRIT.

When the meaning of a particular couplet or set of lines has been communicated to our Girls, we demonstrate how these words may be illustrated through Classical Dance movements to give our Girls an added understanding and visual context. Ms. Hetal has been reading and explaining to give us the cues to demonstrate. It's a team effort, really! With SANSKRIT of course taking the lead, as the guiding light for aeons now...