Focus India: Opening

Cross Festival 2025: Focus India

an immersive weekend in the dance and body practices of India, between tradition and contemporaneity, curated by Antonella Usai.

Cross Festival Tone of Light kicks off on 13, 14, and 15 June, offering audiences a rich introduction to Indian performing arts through a vibrant programme of performances, workshops, and cultural encounters featuring internationally renowned artists and experts.

The focus explores how traditional art rooted in spirituality can endure over time and evolve beyond cultural and geographical boundaries, moving toward a contemporary perspective that is both meaningful and transformative.

Programme

13th JUNE

from 8.00 p.m. – Opening and welcoming greetings.

Followed by SILSILA. Odissi Classical dance show

with Sooraj Subramaniam (MY/AU/BE) and Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi (IN)

Dance, Indian arts

60 minutes

free entrance with donation

The opening event of this year’s CROSS Festival is a set of short performances featuring Indian dancers Sooraj Subramaniam and Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi, internationally renowned exponents of Indian classical dance. The programme mixes Odissi and contemporary dance, interweaving nritta (pure dance) and abhinaya (expressive dance), reinterpreting traditional themes in a modern key and exploring nuances and peculiarities of the different universes.

Sooraj Subramaniam is an internationally renowned choreographer, dancer, and innovator. He trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi at the Sutra Dance Theatre, in Kathak with Urja Desai Thakore, and in Western classical dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He has collaborated with Srishti, Akademi, Balbir Singh Dance Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Nicole Kohler, Kalpana Raghuraman, Seeta Patel, and the Maghenta Collective. His work challenges aesthetic boundaries, fusing Indian dance traditions with contemporary influences to create a hybrid and deeply personal artistic expression.

Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi is a trainer in yoga, dance, and kalaripayattu, as well as a choreographer and Odissi dancer. She began her journey under Pratap Narayan, completing eight years of training and graduating from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Since 2016, she has continued her studies with Bijayini Sathpathy and Pratibha Reddy, and has performed with the prestigious Nrityagram Dance Ensemble. As a teacher, she is recognised for the clarity of her instruction, both in practice and theory. Rukmini’s distinctive Odissi style and pedagogical approach are unique, leading her to travel extensively and engage in cross-disciplinary research that bridges Odissi with other traditional art forms.

Programme:

Mangalcharan – An auspicious beginning 

with Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi

Mangalacharan is the opening rite of the traditional repertoire of classical Odissi dance. It’s a devotional invocation dedicated to Madatangi, worshipped in Tantra as goddess of of knowledge and the arts. The dance begins with the performer offering prayers to her Ishtadeva, the divine form to which she is most devoted. With elegant and meaningful gestures, the dancer expresses gratitude and respect, concluding with a greeting addressed to the Divine, the spiritual masters and the audience. Mangalacharan prepares the dancer and the audience for an inner journey, creating a link between art, devotion and beauty.

Credits

Choreography: Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra | Staged by: Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi

Pallavi 

with Sooraj Subramaniam
Pallavi, meaning ‘to blossom’ or ‘to elaborate’, is a dance that builds on the sculptural poses characteristic of Odissi dance to create a picture of moving images. The Sabhinaya Pallavi is a fundamental component of Guru Debaprasad Das’s choreographic style, in which the rhythm of the pure dance merges with a short and  intense expressive and sung part. The song that accompanies this dance, written by the Banamali saint, celebrates the beauty and magnetic power of Krishna that captivates and enraptures the heart of the beholder. 

Credits

Choreography: Guru Debaprasad Das (1932-1986) | Staged by Sooraj Subramaniam

Battu 

with Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi

Battu Nritta is a pure dance that emphasises the dancer’s extraordinary technical skill. Inspired by the refined sculptures that decorate temples, this dance transforms iconic poses carved in stone into fluid and elegant movements. Characterised by rhythm and precision, this choreography synchronises each gesture with the complex beats of the percussion. Battu Nritta is a tribute to the beauty of sacred architecture and the perfect harmony between art, dance and music.

Credits

Choreography: Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra | Staged by: Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi

Astapadi 

with Sooraj Subramaniam

The Astapadi are a series of love songs written by the poet Jayadeva in the 12th century, which narrate and celebrate the love between Radha and Krishna. In this dance, Radha is consumed with anger at what she perceives as Krishna’s betrayal, while he begs her forgiveness and tries to win her back with words of praise and passion, comparing Radha to the moonlight that melts the darkness of his heart. 

Credits

Choreography: Guru Debaprasad Das | Staged by Sooraj Subramaniam

Moksh – A journey to liberation
by Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi
Moksh is a Sanskrit term meaning ‘liberation’. This dance, true to its name, invites both dancer and audience to transcend the boundaries of the material world, leading to a state of pure transcendence. Through an intense and energetic crescendo, Moksh seems to suspend time, leaving both dancer and audience immersed in deep silence and contemplation. Moksh becomes a transformative experience, inviting inner connection and leaving an indelible mark on the hearts of those who witness it.

Credits
Choreography: Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra | Staged by:  Rukmini Vyas Dwivedi

Nimbus 

by and with Sooraj Subramaniam
Inspired by the Latin term for a luminous rain cloud, Nimbus is a contemporary dance performance that explores the concept of viraha, or love in detachment, a central theme in classical Indian poetry. Through an abstract reinterpretation of Indian dance, the work uses the image of the cloud to represent the swirl of expectations and desires, playing with light and shadow in a distant relationship with the beloved. This desire turns into loss and despair as the cloud fades and vanishes, inviting a new awareness.

Credits 

Choreography and performance: Sooraj Subramaniam | Musical composition: Osama Abdulrasol

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