By LAURA BLEIBERG,
The Orange County Register
IRVINE With its neat
and modest appearance, there’s not much that sets apart the new Ektaa Center
from dozens of other dance, music or art schools that dot the Orange County
landscape.
The lobby’s only telltale features
are the rack for holding street shoes – "Arrange your shoes neatly," reads
a sign – a photograph depicting a Hindu shrine and the fliers announcing
the various classes.
But this plain and functional
design masks the Ektaa Center’s symbolic significance. This is the first
non-denominational center in Orange County, and perhaps Southern California,
where students can study a wide range of Indian cultural subjects, from
yoga to sitar, from the Tamil language to Odissi classical dance.
Masters of Indian music and
dance, transplanted to this country, have taught out of their homes, carrying
on a tradition of often one-on-one teaching in isolated settings.
Ektaa Center founders Harish
Murthy and his wife, Ramya Harishankar, a wellknown teacher of Bharata
Natyam classical dance, have extended an invitation to Southern California’s
Indian artists to teach there. Their goal is to create an unparalleled
cultural complex that unites and builds a community.
"I think our vision for this
center is for it to become the resource, and the center, for any information
and or educational opportunity for learning about the arts and culture
of India," said Murthy, the center’s executive director and only paid staff
member.
Harishankar said she was inspired
to re-create in Irvine the kind of flourishing schools of dance and music
one can find in India. She felt a place of artistic ferment could be duplicated
even in the expansive setting of Southern California, which has an estimated
30,000 people of Indian descent, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
"I think it brings more credibility
when teaching is done in a public space rather than a private home," said
Harishankar, who has located her Arpana Dance School and Company, founded
in 1982, at the center.
"I think it’s time. I think
the Indian community has matured. The other part of it is that we want
it to be a cultural center and not a temple. We want it to be available
to any Indian, be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Sikh."
Murthy added that they hope
the center will attract non-Indians as well.
The two-story, nondescript building
on Richter Avenue, off Jamboree Road, is about 2,500 square feet and has
three different studios. The biggest room, 1,100 square feet, is suitable
for small performances, Murthy said.
A small, carpeted room, decorated
with two cloth pillars called thumba, is being used for music classes,
or one-on-one dance sessions. The slightly larger upstairs room, which
like the giant room has a linoleum, rather than wood, floor, is where the
yoga classes are held.
About 200 students attend various
sessions between 3:30 and 9 p.m., Murthy estimated.
Ektaa means "unity" or "oneness"
in Sanskrit. The facility opened on Oct. 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi,
the revered pacifist leader and social reformer. The couple hope the center
will grow in influence and want to eventually produce and present cultural
events.
The diversity of the dance styles
offered there is only one of the barriers Ektaa Center is breaking down.
As dance teachers will readily admit, a competitive spirit exists among
them, as well as a certain measure of guarding their students.
Ektaa, however, is now home
to those teaching folk dances of India as well as two other styles of classical
Indian dance – Odissi and Kathak. If another teacher of Bharata Natyam
wanted to teach at the center, that would be OK, too, Harishankar said.
At the moment, she is the only one teaching that style, however, which
is the most popular and well-known.
Kathak master teacher Anjani
Ambegaokar, a recent winner of the National Heritage Fellowship award,
said she was pleased when Murthy invited her to give Kathak lessons at
Ektaa.
"I was very impressed with the
idea that an artist who had their own foundation wanted to introduce other
dance forms (at their school) and there was no jealousy of any kind," said
Ambegaokar, a Diamond Bar resident.
"Hopefully it will grow. It’s
just a grass-roots effort and they really believe in the concept. I’m one
of those people who, if you believe in the concept, I’m here to support
it. I’m very happy to be part of it."
Ektaa Center
Mission: To celebrate
the arts and culture of India Where: 269 1 Richter Ave., Suite 1
05, Irvine Hours: Classes days and evenings; call ahead for appointment
Phone: (949) 752-0666 Online: www.ektaacenter.org
