Every fall since 1976, Dances of India St. Louis — one of the oldest classical Indian dance companies in the U.S. — has wowed audiences with productions that combine movement and storytelling. The inspiration for this year’s performance is the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata.
“It's a wonderfully complex saga,” said Dances of India President Nartana Premachandra, whose original play script for “Dreams of the Dark Prince” is based on one of the epic’s central characters, Prince Duryodhana. “Quite honestly, everything that is happening in the world right now is in the Mahabharata.”
The ancient poem’s focus on a great war between cousins resonates with current-day conflicts near and far, she said.
“The idea of [Duryodhana] instigating this war — honestly, I thought of [Vladimir] Putin and Ukraine because it's a battle between cousins over territory,” Premachandra said. “And there's one scene in the battle, which we don't show in our production, where the Pandava hero Arjuna lays down his arms. He says, ‘I can't kill my own family.’ This is what's so striking when we think of the wars in the world right now, whether in Gaza or Sudan.”
While writing “Dreams of the Dark Prince,” Premachandra also honed in on the Mahabharata’s explorations of illusion, reality and truth — themes she said are particularly relevant at this moment in time.
“Our performance is occurring days after the 47th U.S. presidential election,” she said. “Once we got the dates, I thought, ‘We have to do a story about truth and illusion and power and greed,’ which is all part of politics nowadays. … There's illusion everywhere, and to distinguish that from truth is a real battle every day [that] we all fight.”
Nartana Premachandra joined St. Louis on the Air alongside actor Isaiah Di Lorenzo, who plays Prince Duryodhana in this year’s Dances of India production, to discuss the Mahabharata, classical Indian dance and this year’s performance. Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: “Dreams of the Dark Prince: The Tale of Duryodhana from the Indian epic the Mahabharata”
When: 7 p.m. Nov. 8 and 9, with a family matinee performance at 3 p.m. Nov. 10.
Where: Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
