Degula | Shreema Upadhya | 35 mins

The human form is considered sacred across civilizations and religions. Scriptures describe its sanctity and godliness; the significance its protection holds. Just as a shrine constructed with symbolism and care houses the deity, so does the body act as a vessel for our soul. This parallel also manifests itself in the Indian temple, whose structure appears to mirror the human anatomy, in both the physical and metaphysical sense.

Why then do we abuse this body, hate it, neglect it, and constantly attempt to alter it to fit into an external mold that it was never meant to conform to? We journey thus through the length of our very being to where the worshipped resides, with an exploration of the body through culture and time to celebrate the beauty of the imperfectly unique over the ideal, the purpose behind the periphery.

Breath | Deepali Salil, Sayani Chakraborty | 45 mins

“Breath is our maadhyam, a conduit for our emotional well being and a spiritual gateway. Living in the breath allows us to experience our present and our body completely. It allows healing.

Have you noticed that emotions and thoughts disturb the rhythm of your breath, leaving it shallow, or reluctant at the bottom of an exhale or top of an inhale? When left unchecked, these thoughts and emotions calcifies into repeated, reactive responses. Meditating and /or regulating our breath opens our awareness, breaking the chain reaction of emotional and thought elaboration. We can recognize that our incessant breath is always informing us of our inner world, while simultaneously providing us with the solutions to disturbances in our emotions, thoughts, and physical wellbeing.

This incessant breath dances within me and I seek that breath while I dance, and when I dance there are two dancers, one me and one Shiva. When Shiva gradually merges into me and two dancers become one. I become a manifestation of his Ananda Tandava, where everything that moves in this universe is a beautiful dance.

He dances, the world dances, I dance and we all become one.”