Ragamala Dance Company

Written in Water is an ongoing investigation of Paramapadam (the 2nd century Indian board game upon which Snakes and Ladders is based), the 12th century Sufi text The Conference of the Birds, and the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of both. The game board serves as a physical and metaphorical framework for a world of psychological complexity, in which dancers and musicians move freely between composition and improvisation. The performance will unfold upon a large-scale projection of a Paramapadam game board on the stage floor. On this metaphysical map, the seekers/dancers activate the space by negotiating snakes and ladders—which represent the heights of ecstasy and depths of longing—as they journey through the seven valleys (or states of being) central to The Conference of the Birds.

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