LITHUANIAN DANCE PERFORMANCE FASCINATED THE AUDIENCE OF KOLKATA
On June 5 the 3rd International Kalindi Bratyajon Theatre Festival was launched in Kolkata with the Lithuanian play "Salamandra’s Dream". The festival was solemnly inaugurated by the West Bengal Government minister-in-charge of Panchayat and Rural Development Subrata Mukherjee, the West Wengal Government Minister of Tourism and patron of the festival Bratya Basu, the Minister Counsellor of the Lithuanian Embassy in India Diana Mickevičienė and the famous painter Shivaprasanna.
In her inaugural speech Diana Mickevičienė noted that Lithuania and West Bengal are connected by many links, first being Rabindranath Tagore whose poetry is very popular in Lithuania. Another important link is Antanas Poška, a Lithuanian scholar and traveller who came to India on a motorbike in 1931 and worked in Calcutta for 3 years. "In return for the Bengali hospitality our countryman have experienced in Calcutta, in the 1930-ies and nowadays, we have sent one of the best modern Lithuanian theater troupes to the cultural capital of India" - said Diana Mickevičienė.
The audience was mesmerized by the performance Loreta Juodkaitė and her incredible body language which the artist herself called the language of her soul. Loreta’s embodiment if the mythical amphibian Salamandra – traditionally credited with extraordinary powers of fire-resistance and the ability to regenerate her body parts by the Western mythology - has really deleted the boundaries between body and soul. "Kolkata has never seen this sort of a performance, it is a sensation" – were the reactions of the many in the audience shared with the organizers after the performance.
"Salamandra’s Dream" has been presented in Kolkata by the Embassy of Lithuania in India and the “Arts Printing House” supported by the Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lithuanian Council of Culture.
