NEW DELHI: Kuala Lumpur-based Sutra Foundation’s dancers performed at the acclaimed Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF).

It was Odissi classical dance exponent Datuk Ramli Ibrahim-led group’s first show in the Indian capital after a gap of five years.

They presented Sutra’s new Odissi production “Jaya Ram”, a collaborative project with Indian Odissi expert Gajendra Kumar Panda, on Thursday and Friday near the iconic India Gate in central Delhi.

Ramli says “Jaya Ram” is not a dance drama based on the Hindu epic Ramayana but it should be viewed as “a collage of energies where recognisable Ramayana characters make familiar entrances and exits, referencing episodic highlights of the Ramayana.”

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi attended the closing ceremony of the festival.

Ramli presented a copy of Sutra Foundation’s “The Kumbh Mela”, a 196-page coffee table book inspired by the 2019 Kumbh religious congregation in north India, to the minister. - Bernama

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