Navina Jafa, a cultural doyen, appeared as a Kathak Diva in the prestigious Auditorium of the Inda International Centre in New Delhi to dance to raise hope in every Woman – A call for Violence against Women. Through her poetic dance performance, Navina Jafa gave the energy to every lady in the audience to accept that each Woman has the mental power that every Man must honour, even if the Woman has a naturally physically weaker body.
The performance titled “Freedom in Amalgamation” – Samavesh mein Swadheenta saw the audience move, many with tears. A silence as Jafa concluded her grand Kathak dance and then a standing ovation. It was a display of royal feminine energy presented before an enlightened audience comprising of the Korean Ambassador H. E. Chang Jae-Bok Ambassador of Korea and his embassy delegation, Gloria Berbena, Minister Counselor for Public Diplomacy, Embassy of United States, visual artist Jayasri Burman, a host of renowned doctors, lawyers, academics, senior bureaucrats, owners of art galleries, art historians and of course dancers.
Navina Jafa blended the 16th-century Hindi poetry of Bihari and Keshav Das to present the Swadheenpatika Nayika – The Fully Empowered, Enlightened Radha, the archetype heroine in Indian arts and thoughts. Krishna, the archetype of the hero Jafa depicted, was the consciousness, but he needs Radha to complete himself.
With an oil lamp burning in the front of the stage, with the beautiful smell of Jasmine Flowers, Navina Jafa sat wearing a resplendent Red and gold costume and to the lilting sound of the Sarangi by Shahnaaz Ali, the shimmering beat of the tabla by Fateh Singh Gangani, the humming of vocalist Zohaib Hasan, and the whispering flute of Himanshu Dutt, the dancer Navina Jafa created the Swadheenpatika – where the potent seed of the Kundalini rose and gripped the imagination of the audience.
