Madhusmita

Madhusmita Bora and her dance partner will be performing as part of Intercultural Journeys, The Table Sessions, from May 2-4, 2024. They will weave together the personal and the mythological into a new tale, offering an evening of live music, food, movement, and images drawn from Sattriya, a living dance tradition that originates from the Hindu (Vaishnav) monasteries of Assam, Northeast India. For three nights, they will transform the Trinity Center for Urban Life into an Assamese prayer hall, inviting the Assamese community from the tri-state area and their adopted communities in Philadelphia. They will be joined in this endeavor by Chef BB, a prolific Assamese cook and entrepreneur, who will create and pair traditional dishes with the performances.

The WOO Grant will help cover costs for video and photo documentation of the performances, as well costs for the dance costumes, makeup, and some decor for the venue.

Madhusmita is an Assamese-American performing artist and cultural producer of Sattriya dance--a 500 year old ritualistic movement tradition from the Hindu monasteries of Assam. As the only Sattriya dancer and teacher in Philadelphia, she is deeply committed to, profoundly honored and nourished by sharing this sacred dance with her adopted city. Her body has become an archive for this oral tradition, which until recently wasn't accessible to women and was rarely seen outside of Northeast India. As an immigrant living in diaspora, Madhusmita's practice grounds her by actively connecting her to her roots and self.

Madhusmita will write and publish a book on sattriya, a 600-year-old dance from the monasteries of the Indian state of Assam. Sattriya was created as an agent of social change promoting the values of an equal society. The book will serve as a bridge between two seemingly opposite worlds, the cosmopolitan city of Philadelphia and the rural island of Majuli, sparking dialogue about the common values of peace and universalism while also making the Philadelphia community aware about this rare dance form.

Madhusmita will document Sattriya, a 600 year-old dance originating in the Vaishnavite monasteries of Northeast India. For centuries this dance remained inaccessible to women and the world outside. Without record, the dance faces serious threats of dilution and identity. With experience as a dancer, writer, and a disciple of the monastery from which Sattriya comes from, she aims to be an ambassador for the dance form in the Philadelphia area. The project will document the basic grammar of the art form, which will help in preserving and promoting the form at a time when it is undergoing tremendous changes. She will use the documentation in the workshops she leads around the Delaware Valley area where she will promote Sattriya, it’s history, and raise awareness about how the severe erosion of Sattriya’s home, Majuli, is threatening the survival of the dance.

Madhusmita will champion a conservation effort for the art form that is the sattriya dance. Creating a bridge for exchanging ideas related preservation issues in Philadelphia and Majuli Island.  Sattriya dance was introduced over six hundred years ago by Sankardev, an Indian reformer, and has since evolved and flourished mostly in monasteries along the island. Now, this rich cultural tradition, barely visible in the West, is under attack from geographical, social, and political changes. Through her dance and interactive performances Madhusmita will help to keep this culturally rich and empowering tradition alive.