Jain Spirit 2003 06 No 15

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 37

DANCING AT THE CROSSROADS
many youths living in the West. This project, entitled Crossroads, is a contemporary dance beautifully choreographed to a fusion of Afro-Asian and European music, and this is its story:
Seren is an Indian girl who has been brought up in Africa and in her early teenage years she emigrated with her family to the West. The performance takes the audience through a journey of the life of a carefree soul, a free spirit and a playful heart.
As she blossoms into womanhood, her parents focus on finding her a suitable' husband. Out of respect for her parents, Seren does agree to meet a mumber of eligible boys through the arranged system. Although the 'candidates 'seem suitable, each, in one way or another, manages to encage her free spirit...and pin down the carefree cloud! Her parents think that time is running out. She is getting older and the prospect of her finding a good Indian boy is wearing thin. Of course, fate plays a big role in one's life, but they want to help her decide how to plan her bright and stable future. After all, is this not the familiar road all well brought-up Indian girls from respectable families take?
Seren agrees that this is the road good Indian girls choose. But who is she? Indian... African... European? All she wants to do is to remain unbound by conventional ideas and have the sovereignty to make choices in her Life. What should she compromise with? Respect? Heart? Conscience?
As the winds change and leaves turn colour, an unexpected encounter brings Seren's life to a complete halt. For a moment, everything freezes around her. She has no sense of time, emotion, conscience or logic. This phase swifily and instantaneously dissolves into an emotional roller coaster
Seren meets Paul. Paul, a saxophonist, creates a rhapsody in Seren's life through his tender notes of hypnotic charm. She feels a direct spiritual connection with him. Is this real? Is this love? Can this be right? Is this allowed? Is she at a crossroads?
The performance illustrates the deep love Seren and Paul have for each other. Their ignorance to the difference in their colour and religion is the answer to their happiness. It shows how two souls meet and wholly bond through love and nothing else. Seren, still in her besotted and ecstatic state of mind, simply decides to share her exhilaration with her parents. Again her world freezes when they seem outraged at the idea of her marrying a 'white' man. They are very disappointed in her choice. They do not understand her. Where could they have gone wrong in her upbringing? How could she be so disrespectful? Is this what they have taught her? Did they sacrifice all they could to see this day? If she dares to continue
seeing this boy, she must leave home and forget her mum and dad.
Conversely. Seren doesn't understand this equation either. Shouldn' her happiness equal their happiness? According to her, Paul is everything they would be proud of. He would whole-heartedly support her emotionally and financially. Who else could be a more suitable boy? Opposing emotional outbursts engulf the air. Such
aggravation, such conceit! Seren feels
emotionally sick riding this roller coaster over again! Perhaps this is Life. Her parents order her to leave Paul and bury all memories and feelings she has for him. How can she do that? Why should she sacrifice her love for outdated beliefs? Or should she? Perhaps this is the definition of culture and respect. Perhaps she will find an Indian Paul later in her life. Seren tries to balance her innermost feelings. The voices from her heart and her mind are as loud as each other! The sound is so deafening! She has found herself at a crossroads again.
The performance deals with the choices Seren has to make and the roads she has to follow. Does she follow her heart and lose her parents, or does she follow her mind and lose her love?
The show depicts and emphasises love,
arrogance, confusion, respect and aggravation, using expression, body
language, melodies and rhythms. It is aimed especially at the younger generation living in a modern multiethnic environment, a generation that often finds itself at these crossroads. This modern-day pièce d'art of classical dance illustrates conflicting ideas of tradition and
of the avant-garde, the Afro-Asian and the
European, confusion and direction, heart and mind, love and respect and in particular: identity!
I feel that it is not adequate when one understands the complexity of identity and acknowledges that s/he is repeatedly at a mental crossroads. One must also make an effort to recognise when she/he is at a spiritual crossroads. One should try and choose the correct path which will eventually lead to the soul breaking free from the everlasting struggle to liberate itself from its worldly bondage. 2
Madhvis details are in the contents pages.
June - August 2003
Jain Spirit
35