Krishna Leela – an artistic portrayal of Lord Krishna's life story

Chicago IL: On Friday, March 21, 2014 Indian Dance School started by Gauri Jog staged a dance drama Krishna Leela at Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Dance is an integral part of our culture and it is a great way for Indian youth in America to stay connected with their roots, Gauri Jog said at the event. In order to raise awareness of Indian culture in the US and promote education through the arts, Gauri Jog formed Indian Dance School 15 years ago and has now developed it as a reputable non-profit dance institute in Chicago area offering classes in Indian Classical dance, Bollywood and Yoga. There group has staged more than 230 shows since 1999 including much admired dance dramas such as Kathak Yatra, Shakuntala, Queen of Jhansi, Fire the Fiery tale, East meets West, Ramayana among others. From dancing at countless multicultural shows to performing in Daley Plaza downtown for the mayor of Chicago, to presenting a piece at the 2016 Chicago Olympic Bid, our group are challenged and introduced to a wide variety of exciting venues to perform at every year, a senior student of Gauri Jog said. Gauri Jog also teaches Kathak online to large number of students even from India. Her website http://www.gaurijog.com has invaluable information about this dance style and includes all the research she has done for the last 30 years.

The concept of this program was to depict various stories from Lord Krishna’s remarkable life such as Makhan Chori, Kaliya Mardan, Draupadi Vastraharan and Gita Upadesh. This was a sold out show. The program started with full house with traditional Ganesh Vandana, a prayer to Lord Ganesha to seek his blessings.

Then there were series of dances to depict the stories from the life of Lord Krishna. In the first dance they described good qualities of lord Krishna and how handsome he looks. They also depicted naughty pranks Lord Krishna as a child & a teaser of Gopis in Vrindavan.

They also depicted other stories from Krishna’s life such as Hori, Makhanchori, Kaliya Mardan, Draupadi Vastraharan.

There are more than 20 pairs of mother and daughter learning dance together at Indian Dance School and they presented very energetic, graceful Garba, Kathak Dandia and Mother Daughter dance. It is perhaps best time spent with my daughter to build ever lasting relationship, one woman said.

The centerpiece of the program was Gita Upadesh performed by Gauri Jog and her students depicting the Lord Krishna’s advice to Arjuna at the battlefield. The song of the Gita is exemplified in Yada Yada hi Dharmasya. Glanir Bhavati Bharat. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma, this Kathak dance very well depicted how Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince.

Gauri Jog also teaches Kathak online to large number of students from more than 12 countries. Her website http://www.gaurijog.com has invaluable information about this dance style and includes all the research she has done for the last 30 years.

This program certainly entertained and educated many who were attending Indian Dance program for the first time. It also showed creative potential of Gauri Jog who has been practicing Kathak for the past 35 years. She emphasized on the fact that many parents expect their kids to go and perform on stage after enrolling in dance school for few months. This is not correct. Dance is journey and you can only become good dancer by following meditation, hard work and passion, she said. I am so happy to see many of our students who follow this art form with passion and spend time learning new techniques instead of spending time on Facebook and computers, she said.