Surrender to the dance of the soul

It featured yoga hymns and had a simple yet difficult-to-achieve spiritual objective - to make the audience happy.

This reviewer considered the evening odd, as instead of getting to see the regular crowd of theatre-goers or dance aficionados, it was new faces that showed up - students and other Asians and Europeans, many donning Indian saris.

The theatre's art gallery space became an exhibition area with posters and placards detailing the history of Sahaja Yoga and its guru founder, Nobel-prize-nominated Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi.

The two-part, two-hour performance was presented by internationally acclaimed London-based artist Sandeep Bodhanker and Bangkok-based rookie Wanpen. It was interspersed with bhajan chanting by the foundation's members of various nationalities.

"Kuchipudi is the dramatic art of purity. It is performed neither to please the dancer with his own attractive reflection nor to milk the audience's applause, but to devote the labour wholeheartedly to the supreme beings above," Nongrak Sriwejchadit, a chorus singer in the bhajan ensemble, said.

Bodhanker's performance was lauded for its graceful moves that combined lightness and strength. His manner of presenting highly stylised facial expressions that vividly told stories of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu also garnered praise.

We were informed by the two emcees that we should put our hands on our laps, palms up, while enjoying the show. This helped the audience experience the joy of not just being the centre of entertainment but of becoming participants who could open up freely to touch the beauty of their soul, by engaging with the chants and dances.

Interestingly, the relationship between the philosophy behind the dance and Sahaja Yoga is similar to the "Don't Think, Just Feel" credo of many dance theatres today.

Yet the emcees over-reiterated the show's intent of making audience joyous, so much so the audience, occasionally, retreated into doubtful silence while the performers were singing in raptures to the Almighty they referred to as the source of self-realisation.

We have devoured so many soap operas and Hollywood movies that we now believe these are the only ways of understanding or attaining joy. As a result, we tend to place those who talk about something sacred, or enlightening, in the land of the esoteric.

Instead of walking away from such inexplicable, half-understood situations, why do we not just put down our egos and play along to seek this kind of spiritual joy? Perhaps, we would end up admitting it is our doubt that makes us stubbornly stick to our misery.