SAMA: Equanimity/ Equality

Choreography: Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar, Assistant Professor, UNC Charlotte Dance

Rehearsal Direction: Amara Kranz, Senior, UNC Charlotte Dance

Production: Guru Aruna Mohanty

Music Composition: Agnimitra Behera, Guru Dhaneshwar Swain

Script: Kedar Mishra

Poetry Credits: Dhurjati Sarkar

Premiere: Nritya Darpan Festival, December 10, 2022, New Brunswick, NJ

SAMA is an evening-length concert production designed and conceived by Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar. Overall direction and compositional credits go to Orissa Dance Academy, Bhubaneswar. In Indian dance, Samameans postural balance where the head, neck, eyes, hands, feet, torso, waist, hips, and other parts of the body alongside emotions, thoughts, ideas, memories, sensations, and feelings integrate to function in aesthetic harmony. Metaphorically speaking, the Sama of the body has been compared to the world at large where difference often leads to discord. However, like the embodied capacity of the dancer, the society can also strive to let go of their differences to function as a harmonious whole. The musical has three acts, namely, Harmony, Discord, and Reset. It premiered at the inaugural Nritya Darpan festival on December 10 2022 in New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, New Brunswick, New Jersey. In Fall 2024, it is repurposed into a community-engaged piece with intergenerational casts in both North Carolina (October 12 2024) and Washington D.C. (October 13 2024). Courtesy: Sanskriti, D.C. and Probashi, N.C.