Bengali Association of Nebraska has presented - "Chitrangada" on May 13th 2006, in the event of Rabindra Jayanti. The dance drama was directed and coreographed by Ms. Moli Rapoor.
The dances are based on Tagore's compositions of true Shantiniketan dance style and incorporating techniques of classically inspired footwork, hand gestures, and facial expressions with rhythm and controlled grace.
Rabindranath Tagore was an accomplished musician, and his most enduring legacy to Bangla may be his 2,000 songs, now known as Rabindra Sangeet which are part of the Bengali cultural heritage in both India's West Bengal and Bangladesh.
He is the only person to have ever written the national anthems of two different nations: Jana Gana Mana in India and Aamaar Sonaar Baanglaa in Bangladesh. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first non-European to receive this honor, for his English translation of his work Gitanjali (An Offering of Song).
A brief storyline: The strong and courageous Chitrangada falls in love with the Pandava Arjun who is in his 11th year of exile. However, the relationship is one-sided. A distraught Chitrangada prays to Madana for one year of beauty so that she can win over Arjun. Her wish is granted and Arjun falls in love with the beautiful princess. With the passage of time, she begins to feel uncomfortable in her new guise. The day of reckoning arrives when the warrior princess is quizzed by Arjun about Chitrangada, whose tales of bravery have reached him. Finally, Chitrangada calls on Madana to revert her back to her original self.
In Chitrangada, Tagore has examined the position that society should give its women. Chitrangada demands a rightful place for herself. She tells Arjun that she is a princess and not a commoner. She is not someone either to be kept on a high pedestal and worshipped, or to be neglected and left to fade and languish in the background. He should allow her to be ever at his side in both happy and difficult times.
