This Love Between Us

Composition by Reena Esmail
Choreography by Yamini Kalluri
Produced by Vijay Gupta (Artistic Director/Artist in residence with Music Worcester, 2023)

Yamini's Intention:

"This Love Between Us is a piece about unity. Its seven movements juxtapose the words of seven major religious traditions of India (Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Jainism and Islam), and specifically how each of these traditions approaches
the topic of unity, of brotherhood, of being kind to one another." - Reena Esmail

After contemplating the composer's intention for this piece, I have realized this is the perfect timing to choreograph to this music while there is so much tension happening between Hindus and Muslims in India. This kind of tension between religions has been happening for centuries everywhere in the world but I was so lucky I grew up in a very diverse community where my friends belonged to all kinds of different religions and I went and took part in all their festivities and rituals without any hesitation. I actually practice and have subscribed to multiple religious philosophies which have inspired me through my exposure to many different cultures across the world. This was the prefect musical composition to explore my secularism and contemplate on what a true spiritual journey means to me. 

I am celebrating the rich art, culture, heritage and literature which has come to life because of these religions such as the Buddhist Sculptures, Da Vinci's Christian Paintings, Sikh temples and food customs, Rumi's Mystical Islamic poems etc.

In the first movement, which is Buddhism I start off showing Buddha attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and then show other Bodhisattvas of the Tibetan tradition such as Manjushree and others. I move on to showing how various vices and addictions in this world distract us from attaining enlightenment. I use the bird analogy, to show we won't be able to fly high feeling liberated also because the society doesn't want us to feel free but again it is up to our mind whether we want to feel liberated or not and we can change the world with our steadfastness.

In the second movement, where we depict Sikhism, I must say this was the most visually exciting segment for me to work with. The principle of generosity, kindness and living a life as a royal king has stood out to me. I show the Sikh symbol which is the Khanda which shows the three weapons: A double-edged khanda (sword) in the centre A chakkar (chakram) Two single-edged daggers, or kirpan, crossed at the bottom, which sit on either side of the khanda and chakkar. They represent the dual characteristics of Miri-Piri, indicating the integration of both spiritual and temporal sovereignty together and not treating them as two separate and distinct entities.The left sword is called Miri and the right sword is called Piri. We move on to creating the ambience of a Gurdwara, where the devotees read from their Holy scripture, Guru Granth Sahib. The importance of Guru, music where Sarangi is one of the most traditional Punjabi folk instruments and the value of serving food generously to all (hangar) has been highlighted. In the end I show how once truly understanding the essence of Sikhism via a proper Guru, how one can attain liberation. I show the students assuming that they understood Sikhism just by listening to the Guru's teachings but they are still blindfolded by their ego but true enlightenment only comes when you follow the Guru's footsteps. And the guru removes your blindness if you let him. While I was creating this movement, I envisioned all of this happening in a cave with a waterfall and then towards the end I saw the dancers dancing against the backdrop of Aurora Borealis.

Third-movement, we move on to Christianity the most popular religion in the world which was spread to the world via colonialism. Here I take a comedic standpoint because all of us are familiar with biblical stories and in my point of view comedy is the most spiritual take because the art of not taking yourself seriously and realizing this is all just play is the most liberating feeling which you are still serious about being close to the truth. It is this duality which is the spiritual state I feel. While I show the birth of Jesus, him creating a cult of confidants and followers, the story bread and wine representing Jesus' being, the bleeding woman story, the last supper and the resurrection story, I bring in a modern age mortal reading all of these stories with so much fervor and she ends up entering the stories and famous biblical paintings. She is an outside character who enters these iconic paintings/scenes from Jesus' life and she sort of meddles and disrupts the elements in the painting and this in turn brings the characters in the stories back to life because the modern day girl has created glitch for example by trying to eat the food in the last supper. I was trying to recreate Alice in Wonderland aesthetics.

Fourth Movement is about the most underrated religion, Zoroastrianism. I love the idea in this religion where they say good and evil will always persist together. The god of good is Ahura Mazda and the evil representative is Angra Mainyu. I am a big fan of Graham Hancock and I do believe that this was a religion which is a consequence of the ice age and they believed Ahura Mazda was that messenger. I show Ahura Mazda emerging from the waters and come to the people of Mesopotamia restore peace and there is a spirit which is seduced by the evil and becomes an incarnate of Angra Mainyu. Zoroastrianism, in my opinion consists of the original Adam and Eve story which was later adopted by other western religions where they are referred to as Mashya and Mashyana. I created a metaphor where all of the people start become puppets of Angra the evil god and Ahura Mazda restores good in the world by cutting off the strings of the puppets from the evil puppeteer.

Fifth movement, I get on to perform solo representing Hinduism where eroticism and divinity are intertwine in the dualistic approach of Vedanta. In fact, eroticism is used as a tantric imagery to show the Jeevatma (devotee) becoming one with the paramatma (god) in the union. The female devotee is becoming one with Lord Krishna. The romantic elements and devotion are intertwined in this particular spiritual journey.

Sixth movement is Jainism where I focus on showing how in this Jain approach violence will lead to constant reincarnation. And in the story I have come up, I show with every reincarnation the spirit understands the principle of non-violence and towards the last incarnation which is the seventh incarnation the spirit chooses love over violence to truly feel liberated. Last movement which is Islam and showing all religions of Indian merging together. In Islam, believing that Allah is the only god is very essential. The things which I always admired in Islam was their discipline to do prayer multiple times a day no matter where they are. I think discipline is the highest form of spirituality. A lot of my approach to choreographing to Islam was influenced by Rumi's poetry. The mystical and wistful approach of searching for God or Allah. Then we finally show all of the religions joining in together to depict a truly Indian experience. Since, I grew up in Hyderabad, India I spent most of my life going to churches, Temples, gurdwaras and mosques with an open mind. I had friends from all religions and my life was influenced by all these religions. My family is agnostic and I embraced all religions as part of my identity from a very young age. This choreography is an homage to all of my Indian brothers and sisters who hail from all religions. I am proud to belong to a very diverse and secular country. This is to show we are all mixed and none of us pure and original.