Rediscovery of the hidden 64 Yogini Temple new English version HD 1080p

64 Yogini Temple Project with help from NRW.

In 2013 I visited a so-called 64 Yogini Temple in Hirapur, Odisha, India, together with 2 students when we took one week of classes in Odissi dance at Sujata Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar. I knew the temple from previous research in connection with Tara, who is worshiped by Buddhists and Hindus as a rescuing goddess. Of the 64 yoginis that can be found inside the roofless temple as statues, she is the second one. Like most of the other yoginis or goddesses here, she is a form of the goddess Durga. The round temple is not big, but one is fascinated by the fine statues, or rather, what is left of them.

7 years later, ideas ripened to work out a dance show that would deal with this temple, like my project "The World of Tara". In 2020 I made the first list of possible dances and looked for suitable pieces of music. I drew the historical line from before the creation of the temple to today. Then I planned an intensive week where I would teach dances that could later be shown on the show. The seminar took place in August 2020 in the seminar house Hof Oberlethe but was already so overshadowed by Corona that some students were unable to participate. Nevertheless, a very nice start had been made.

New upswing came from the NRW Corona Immediate Aid, which enabled me to commission suitable Indian music, including usage rights. Subhankar Chatterjee from Calcutta and 12 other musicians, singers and a technician worked on it. Beautiful music was created, and I started to prepare the dances.

The film shows recordings of the 2 intensive weeks, supplemented with explanations. You can really feel how things have been done up to now. There is still a long way to go before stage maturity. I would like to thank everyone involved from the bottom of my heart for their enormous commitment!

The project continues. The music has not yet been fully used. Several choreographies have yet to be written and we will improve and develop the dances that we have already tried. The next seminar in summer 2022 will build on the two mentioned. In addition, other workshops are planned that deal with dances from this series. When the Corona time is over, the aim is to make a combination of film material and live performances in which many dancers come together to create this “new 64 Yogini Temple”.

All music: Subhankar Chatterjee.
Further information: www.shahrazad.de