Last Saturday evening at Burwood’s Besen Centre, the Kalamandir School of Indian Dance enticed several hundred guests to enter the vast treasure house of India’s cultural consciousness. Our gateway was a dance program devoted to Krishna: Krishna Bandana.

Joyoti Das, along with her students Ahila, Bharati, Gowri, Rati, Tharanie and Yasoda, shared how,  in God’s realm, everything is art: ‘every word is a song, every gait is a dance’ (Brahma Samhita 5.56). The audience saw how, if one wants to describe this in a truly expressive way then, besides one’s pure devotion, excellent artistry is also required.

The dancers used the ancient Odissi (Orissan) form, which is centered around the temple worship of Lord Jagannatha, to revisit highlights of Vaisnava culture. These included: the descent of the Dasavatras - the ten primary incarnations of Sri Krishna; Krishna-lila - Jaya Madhava-Madhana-Murari; and Ravana’s kidnap of Sita Devi.

The organisers of the event wholeheartedly gave ISKCON and Food for Life centre stage. Aniruddha Prabhu was invited to speak. Because the Kalamandir School is dedicated to community service, the funds raised from the dance program will be used to support Food for Life.

It was very enlivening to see temple sevaites volunteering their time in tandem with the wider congregation of devotees - and the Melbourne community at large - to mount a substantial celebration of Krishna conscious culture.

Many thanks must go to Jyoti and her core team (including her father Bijoy das), and to Caru Caitanya Das and his team (who contributed design work, support staff, and who distributed prasada and books). Let's hope we can forward to more devotional dance experiences soon.