When – Saturday May 31, 3:00 pm (Sharp)

Where – National Heritage Museum, 33 Marrett Rd, Lexington, MA

Tickets (Children 10 and under free):  $15, $25, $35 

Click here to buy tickets http://www.visionaid.org/ramayana 

Proceeds Benefit Vision-Aid 

Concept and Choreography – Ranjani Saigal  

Artists – Amudha Pazhanisamy, Geeta Murali, Dr. Revathy Ramaswamy, Surya Sundarajan, A. Balaskandan, Ranjani Saigal 
 

Contact - Anu Chitrapu @ 617 489 6265 or send email to info@visionaid.org 

Vision-Aid  Directors -  Anu Chitrapu, Shailesh Durgapal, Paramesh Garimella, Chandrika Govardhan, Kaustubha Phene , Ramakrishna Raju, Revathy Ramakrishna, Umayal Ramanathan, Sudhir Varma and Dr. E.Vijayakumar  

Ramayana - A Visual Journey is a fascinating dance-drama presentation in the traditional South Indian dance style of Bharatanatyam, bringing to life the timeless Indian Epic, Ramayana, in a way that has never been done before. Through a combination of live music, Jathis (pure dance movements), Swarams (musical notes) and engaging English narration, the dance production takes the audience  
on a journey back in time, over 5000 years ago when sage Valmiki is said to have first composed this epic.  The story has inspired many and has been retold in several different languages, in different geographical regions and at different historical periods. 
 
This production is a synthesis of these different versions. The songs in this production have been selected from many different Indian languages including Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Gujarati. Compositions of several poets including Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas, Thyagaraja, Arunachala Kavirayar, Swati Thirunal and Narsing Mehta are brought together in this unique production. 

The production was created when the talented grand niece of Balasaraswati, Amudha Pazhnisamy a National Foundation of the Arts Awards winner also won the Traditional Arts Apprentice Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to continue her studies under Ranjani Saigal. Ranjani and Amudha decided to create this work as a product for their grant.  “We are blessed to have star musicians including Geeta Murali, Revathy Ramaswamy, Balaskandan and Surya Sundarajan help provide live music for the production” says Saigal who has created several unique productions int he past including Dancing Nature's Art, Savithri, Dancing Into Orbit and others.

“This particular fund raiser in unique in that it brings the Ramayana to us in a form that requires no knowledge of the Ramayana, or the dance style through which it is depicted. The rendition is a unique combination of traditional and modern. The ancient story of Ramayana is narrated in English while the Bharatanatyam dance and music are traditional. What better way to capture an audience than treat them to something that is easily comprehensible, transports you to ancient times and supports a great cause, all at the same time?” says Anu Chitrapu, Director, Vision-Aid. 

“The best gift one can give the blind is independence and today, thanks to modern technology, we are able to do that. Vision-Aid makes this technology accessible to the visually challenged. Vision-Aid is spreading a safety net to catch those who have fallen through the cracks of the eye care system -  people who have terminal vision conditions that cannot be corrected, cured or treated by medicine or surgery. These are the people who need to be rehabilitated and trained to cope with their vision loss. We are dealing with a segment of the population that needs a lot of investment and care - something which most eye care providers are not interested or able to provide in developing countries” say Ramakrishna Raju, who along with his wife Revathy Ramakrishna helped found this organization.  “Just as a person endowed with wealth has a duty to share his/her wealth with the poor, so do we, the sighted, have a duty to help the visually disadvantaged. We hope you can come and support us".

More info and tickets at

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