What: Eleni of Sparta, an Indo Greek retelling of the life of Helen of Troy conceptualized, choreographed and presented by Rajika Puri as part of the University of North Texas' 2014-15 Mary Jo and V. Lane Rawlins Fine Art Series.
When: Feb. 20 (Friday)
Where: UNT's Main Auditorium, 1401 W. Hickory St., Denton
Cost: $10 for public; $5 for UNT faculty, staff and Alumni Association members; free for UNT students. Students can print their free ticket, while UNT faculty/staff/alumni and the public, may purchase their tickets at UNTUniontickets.com.
More information: More information on other events this season can be found at the Fine Arts Series Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/UNTFineArtsSeries.
DENTON (UNT), Texas – The second event in UNT's Fine Arts Series for Spring 2015 will feature Rajika Puri's Indo-Greek retelling of the life of Helen of Troy in her highly acclaimed ELENI of Sparta.
ELENI of Sparta is a combination of western drama and Indian dance that provides a unique take on a classic story. Puri has yet to perform ELENI of Sparta in America, so her show at UNT will be the first opportunity for American audiences to see it.
The performance will be at 8 p.m. Feb. 20 in UNT's Main Auditorium, 1401 W. Hickory St., Denton. A pre- and post-show talk will be conducted by Uttara Asha Coorlawala, a teacher at The Ailey School in New York City.
Puri said that part of the project was finding the truth behind the life of Helen and discovering that it didn't match up with modern interpretations of her life.
"She has unfortunately been reduced to someone who started the war," said Puri, who attributes that generalization to prejudicial societal norms. Instead, Puri said she finds Helen to be "the strong spirit of woman."
Puri will use a form of dance storytelling, which she began developing in 1986, to tell Helen's story "like a bard of old" and transition from dance to song to narration.
ELENI of Sparta recounts the story of Helen's life from an Indian perspective. From this cross-cultural point of view, similarities between two Bronze Age epics, the Mahabaharata and the Iliad, are highlighted. While researching Indo-European culture, Puri noticed similarities between Greek and Indian musical scales, deities and languages as well. She has made efforts to incorporate these parallels into her performance, however, it's the story itself that is most important to Puri.
"To understand European civilization, one must read The Iliad," said Puri. "Mythology tells us who we are, and this is one of the greatest myths of history."
ELENI of Sparta was commissioned by Anita Ratnam for the EPIC WOMEN conference – a conclave of talks, presentations and performances focusing on iconic women in myth, history, literature and life.
The performance is free for UNT students, $5 for UNT faculty/staff/Alumni Association members, and $10 for the public. For more information about this and other events in UNT's Fine Art Series for Spring 2015, visit the Fine Arts Series Facebook page.
About the Artist
Rajika Puri is trained in two forms of Indian dance - Bharatanatyam and Odissia - which she has performed internationally, including a career highlight of a command performance for the President of Mexico. In 1986 she played a dual role of 'Narrator/Kali' for a Lincoln Center Production directed by Julie Taymor. Since then, she has brought her tradition of Indian theatre to the western stage in classics like Euripides' The Bacchae and Shakespeare's Macbeth. In 1998 she collaborated with Flamenco dancer, La Conja, to produce Flamenco Natyam, a blend of Flamenco with Bharatanatyam dancing that was presented at the Works & Process series of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. She is currently working on adding a visual dimension to south Indian classical music (Carnatic music), and interweaving that music with flamenco.
About the Speaker
Uttara Asha Coorlawara has taught dance at Barnard College and Princeton University in addition to her current teaching position at The Ailey School. Her writings can be found in a number of international publications ranging from Pulse to Sruti, India's leading magazine for music and dance. Coorlawara was born and educated in India before transferring to Smith College, Mass. She then went on to train in modern dance in New York City as a competitive scholarship student at the Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham studios. She then returned to India where she began initiating a movement in Indian dance that encouraged intercultural dance methods. She served as a Performing Arts advisor to the late Rajiv Gandhi when he was Prime Minister and to the National Center of Performing Arts, Mumbai.
About the Mary Jo and V. Lane Rawlins Fine Arts Series
Now in its 111th season, the Fine Arts Series began as the Lyceum Series in 1903 when UNT was North Texas Normal College. The series has grown over the past century while never losing sight of its purpose to enrich UNT students' lives and provide a higher quality of life at the university. The series continues to entertain and educate the campus community by presenting an exciting series of performing, visual and literary arts events. All Fine Arts Series performances are presented free of charge to UNT students.