Opening Address was given by Mrs. Gouri Basu, Director of Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre emphasising the point of the changing scenario of acceptance of different forms like folk and Contemporary in particular over the years and how difficult it was for the artist to sustain amidst the militancy of traditional dance practitioners. She patted Sapphire to counter all resistance and move ahead across three decades carving a special niche position in the region.

The Chief Guest was the new Consul General of Japan Mr. Koichi Nakagawa who also focussed on the relationship of Japan and India and how soft diplomacy through arts play an important role.

The next address was given by Mr. Debanjan Chakrabarti, Director of British Council who shared about the past collaborations of Sapphire and British Council.

We had Consul General of France Mr. Didier Talpain who used to be an administrative officer of an arts festival , a practising musician and also revealed he had taken dance classes as a child for whom this Rasasutra was a world class production to be able to tour globally. He was extremely excited to watch this amalgam of Natyashashtra, Contemporary dance and electronica music.

This was followed by SUBIJOYA AWARDS given in memory of parents of the Founder Director Sudarshan Chakravorty. Katha revivalist Smt. Shamlu Dudeja received the Smt. Bijoya Chakraborty Smriti Purashkar 2022 in Social Entrepreneurship while ace Sarod player Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar received the Shri Subinoy Chakraborty Smriti Purashkar 2022 in music. The whole ceremony was led by senior Sapphire board member Smt Ratnottama Sengupta.

The programme also saw a cheque of Rs.10,000/- being handed to the co presenters Rotary International (District 3291) in aid of paediatric cancer patients in the presence of two District Governors, Mr.Prabir Chatterjee (2021-22) and Mr. Ajoy Kumar Law (2022-23). The final address was given by presenter Mr. Rupak Saha of Shyam Sundar Jewellers who presented Rasasutra powered by Khukumoni. He discussed the importance of integrating the past in the modern times in everyday living which also explained his trigger to connect his brand with this production which made him bring out a new ‘Rasasutra’ range of ethnic gold and tribal jewellery.

SYNOPSIS: This brought out in a series of questions that is expressed through the production
How are we, as contemporary dance practitioners, going to invoke the ancestry of the very medium
that speaks and forms through the physical body? What is the role of being informed by that which is
spoken and that which we withhold? The vyakta and its dual opposite, the a-vyakta
What is Rasa? What is that is unbound, that flows and never stops, is never contained even as it explores the limits of a physically manifested body how does it transcend its very borders
Rasasutra is an conversation that traces the contours of this process – that which originates in the ancestry of Bharata’s Natyashastra a text written nearly 2000 years ago – this conversation derives from that ancient body text of theorems – seen to be in some form of a stasis but in reality the very opposite of that containment – of stories, of improvisation, of image making – idioms so much part of the contemporary practice
So we ask what role we ascribe to this ancestry of the medium itself…
What form can that wisdom take…?
How do we go beyond the binaries – of the masculine and the feminine, the form and the formless, the sacred and the profane, of movements and stillness, of bodies and that which is not contained…..?

Details:
The production attempts to investigate the infinite energy that the body holds. It is an understanding of the core ‘rasa’ (energy) that is never diminished but is manifested through the kinetics that the body holds as a container. The energy is beyond gender, sexuality and identity, transforming from one form to the other as an endless eternal spirit. The production chooses a 2000 year old Natyashastra movement vocabulary of ‘karana’ juxtaposed with the physicality of the modern Contemporary dance to understand the adaptability of the body to transcend beyond a given form. Even pedagogy wise this production is significant to bridge these islands of tradition and modernity which is an important pointer in the journey of Indian Contemporary dance of the sub-continent.

The soundscape of the production is drawn from live Electronic music by Hybrid Protokol which makes it more interesting for both the performers and the audience to find various surprises in different meanders of the work. It also somehow bridges the gap between the islands of tradition and modernity which is important to understand, acknowledge and respect the holistic scene of the arts as a whole and build a more comprehensive community of artists who can co exist, co create and collaborate without conflict!

First Time : LIVE Electronica Music , Natyashastra & Contemporary Dance Comes Together in an amazing amalgam to speak about the pulsating energy that the body holds which gets manifested in myriad ways where dance is one transforming the chaos of the infinite energy into aesthetics. The Avant Garde costumes by famed designer Abhishek Dutta and tribal jewellery of Shyam Sundar Jewellers makes the production seek a new parameter of excellence in presentation & performance with live electronica music by Hybrid Protokol led by Aneesh Basu & Soumajit Ghosh with great captures of images by famous photographer Rajesh Gupta.