Topic Global News and Topics
An article in the Hindustan Times about a dance performance in the Buddha Hall Auditorium at the Osho Commune in Pune, India.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ MONDAY, MAY 06, 2002 1:17:34 AM ]
WHEN a pretty Italian woman speaks fluent Lucknowi Hindi, you do a double take. Any wonder, that she had the at the Gautama, The Buddha hall, the Osho Commune eating out of her on Saturday night, as she performed sizzling kathak. Rosella Fanelli, the heroine of our piece today, of a similar audience that was mesmerised by the great Indian dancer Yamini Krishnamurty in the Italian town of Assisi, in the eighties. Rosella remembers going backstage and shaking hands with Yamini. was the beginning of a deep yearning to Indian dance,” recalls Rosella.
Around the same time, Rosella began reading Indian spiritual books and got introduced to yoga. After learning the basics of yoga from an Indian teacher in Italy, Rosella remembers landing in New Delhi one fine day in 1987. Visits to the Sai Baba ashram at Putthaparti, the Aurobindo ashram in Pondicherry and prominent yoga centres in India followed. After acquiring a decent mastery over yoga, Rosella’s search for a kathak dance teacher took her to Arjun Misra’s kathak academy in Lucknow. It is Misra, a disciple of the legendary Pandit Birju Maharaj, who has been training her for the last 10 years.
According to Rosella, there is a lot of theatre craft present in Indian dance forms, which is absent in western dance forms. “For instance, I have been able to explore my own feminism through kathak. Indian dance is earthy and rooted,” she says. About her recent performances, she points out to a Holi festival this year, where she performed before an audience of 3,000 in the village of Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. “I love performing in rural India. The crowds are informal and I am allowed to be playful.” She also points out to a November 2001 performance in Lucknow, which was graced by Benedetto Amari, Italian ambassador to India.
Her most recent fans include, Ma Sadhana, editor of Osho Times, who says, “Through her playful, easy style last night, Rosella was able to express her femininity very well.” While another long time Oshoite Swami Yoga Pratap says, “It was one of the best dance performances I have seen at the commune.” Rosella is a modest, easy going person. Not even ace dancer Sitara Devi’s recent accolades have gone to her head. Speaking in Hindi she says, “Is jeevan mein kitna seekoge. Kam seeko, par accha seeko.” About the immediate future, she is a trifle undecided. Her folks in Italy want her to head home, while she admits that her heart is rooted in India. “Dil ke do tukde ho gaye hain. Kya karoon pata nahin,” she says.
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