Lowen Does Divine Classical Indian Dance at Occidental

After seeing Sharon Lowen’s solo program of Odissi classical Indian dance, it’s not hard to imagine why the American-born dancer wins awards in her adopted home, New Delhi. She is, quite simply, a divine dancer.

Appropriately enough, the setting for her Saturday night concert was the Herrick Chapel, at Occidental College. The raised, circular marble stage, with audience on three sides, provided a sense of intimacy; music was by Ram Chandra Sahu (vocals), Prafulla Mangaraj (drum) and Rajkishore Dal Behera (flute).

Blessed with unerring musicality and keenly deployed technique, Lowen can mesmerize with hands that drift and carve the air like rising smoke. But perhaps the strongest weapon in her arsenal is her eyes, which mirror the soul with convincing depth and grace. In passages of expressive mime, a parade of moods took their turn illuminating her from within, whether she was swooning with the desire of Radha for Krishna or becoming a fearsome warrior incarnation of Vishnu.

Throughout, there were inventive choreographic strategies by Lowen and her guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra. Odissi shares some subject matter and steps with its sister dance forms, Bharata Natyam and Kathak, but is characterized by its S-curve posture, achieved by sinking into one hip and tilting the head. This mobility of waist and neck was put to maximum use in the subtle isolation of “Shankara Bharanam Pallavi.”

But each segment of the program had something to recommend it, a good advertisement for a lesser-known Indian classical dance form--and, of course, for Lowen, who obviously has answered the right calling.