Of Beauty & Deities: Music and Dance of India

Of Beauty & Deities: Music and Dance of India is part of the “Languages of Sound & Movements” series compiling performance-based programs designed to acquaint viewers with the music and dance traditions of various communities around the world. Producer-director Eva Ma introduces Kalanjali, a California dance group accompanied by musicians whom the company brings over from India. Clad in bright costumes and adorned with henna-dyed decorations, Kalanjali demonstrates bharata natyam, Hindu temple dances based on ancient texts that date back to the second century A.D. Interspersed throughout the performances are interviews with the company's founders and dancers, demonstrations of vocal technique and instrumentation, and descriptions of the elements of the dance form. Although a rough cut received the Best of Festival Award, Arts Category, at the Berkeley Film & Video Festival in 2002, and the production was a WAVE finalist in 2006, this earnest film has an amateurish feel and suffers from a rather scattershot approach (also, the highly accented, rapidly spoken commentary by the Indian musicians is hard to follow). Nonetheless, this visually pleasing, informative, and entertaining program belongs in any serious dance collection and is therefore recommended. Aud: P. (J. Reed)