KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — Talented. Expressive. Beautiful.

India’s Kavita Dwibedi heard the sound of dance bells (ghunghroo) as a child.

“As I was growing up, it was growing on me. Although my father wanted me to first complete my studies, it was my mother Padmawati Behera, who intervened and said as other girls are learning along with their studies, then why not our own daughter?! “The deal was struck and my father started with my training,” says Kavita, daughter and disciple of Indian odisso maestro Guru Harekrishna Behera.

A leading exponent of odissi in India, Kavita reveals that “as an Odiya, from Odisha, I feel the responsibility for the promotion of odissi.” Kavita has since made her mark for her superb abhinaya (expressiveness in dance). To her, odissi is a most graceful, lyrical and very sculpture-oriented dance form.

Today, a dancer of deep commitment towards an undiluted and authentic approach to odissi, Kavita is credited with a number of new choreographies based on the traditional chhanda music of Orissa.

These include the much lauded Ritu-Rang (Seasons of Love) and Proshitapatika. She has also choreographed for dance genre manipuri (Saptatala Dhyaan) bharatanatyam (Khajuraho Vaibhav) and kathak (Jugalbandis).

The recipient of many awards, she is the founder director of Odissi Akademi in New Delhi. She was awarded the Odisha State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award last year.

She will stage her new, and original, choreography called Shweta Mukti in Kuala Lumpur on June 22, presented by Kalpana Dance Theatre.

“I am glad that after two years of thinking and rethinking, it could shape up in a very touchy and intense portrayal of five women in Buddha’s life who got liberated. Hence, Shweta Mukti — The Feminine Glory of Nirvana,” she says.

“I have always been fascinated with the Buddha and his life’s journey.

And through my dance, I wanted to bring out why Buddha is Buddha.” At the same time, the saying “Behind a successful man there is a woman” was coursing through Kavita’s mind. “I actually saw my own mother’s sacrifices made for my father who is also my guru to achieve what he is regarded for.” That led her to think about the women who made others great by sacrificing their own existence and getting the utmost satisfaction out of that journey.

“Nobody understands or look into these unseen layers and aspects of women who silently forgive their happiness to give happiness to others and gets happiness out of that,” explains Kavita.

The solo production is about five women, each associated with Buddha in her own story and each one dazzled with self-realisation in her own way. They are all different, but they share with each other a longing for mukti.

“Shweta Mukti is an intense search, a gripping journey into the compassionate world of womanhood.

“Budhha, the supreme soul of enlightenment and greatest torch bearer of liberation for humanity is conceived, nurtured, loved, cared, challenged and charmed by these women.

“These women are Gautami, the foster mother of Gautam; Yashodhara, the queen and wife of Siddhartha; Magandhi, the rejected lover; Amrapali, the courtesean dancer, and Prakriti, the downtrodden woman.

“ All of them were liberated with the presence of Buddha.” But in the entire composition, it is said that there is no direct reference to the Buddha.

The show will be accompanied by Shweta Mukti music composer Guru Ram Hari Das on vocals, Guru Dhaneshwar Swain (mardal), Ajay Choudhry (tabla and khol), Srinivas Satpathy (flute), Agnimitra Behera (violin), Sapneswar Chakravarty (sitar), Ramchandra Behera (manjira), and Babuli (keyboards).

Sukanta Kumar Kundu is the music arranger.

The show will feature poetry which will be recited by Aavery Chaurey, Arshiya Sethi, Sukhanshu Chatterjee and Kavita herself.

The poems are by Kedar Mishra and the English translations are by Amarendra Khatua.

For Kavita, Shweta Mukti is a poetic journey of five female characters, “who are deeply different from each other, yet longing for one goal”.

“Their search is eternal. It’s an attempt to lighten the mystic self of womanhood, celebration of ecstasy. It’s a story about women’s liberation and self discovery.

“The poetic narrative goes with abstract flows, yet knitting a story of human aspiration. They are women of history, yet modern, having a great relevance to contemporary world and time.” She feels anyone who loves music and dance will enjoy Shweta Mukti.

On her first visit to Malaysia, Kavita is looking forward to exploring it culturally and geographically.

Catch Shweta Mukti, Kavita’s creative endeavour of dance, poetry and music at the Temple of Fine Arts’ Shantanand Auditorium on June 22 at 7pm.

For tickets, call KDT’s Shangita on 0176725672 or TFA at 0322725709.