"Ocean of Love" celebrates in poetry and dance the ties that bind South Africa and India. Conceived in honour of the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel Laureate for Literature, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. This South African production pays tribute to the connecting waters of the Indian Ocean. It also invokes the soul forces of Gandhi and Mandela to show that ideas of love, peace and freedom are a common language flowing across time and space.

As the shared waters of the Indian Ocean gently lap the shores of two historic lands, the lyrical bounty bequeathed by Tagore is set to the classical movements of Bharat Natyam and Kathak, the mystery and majesty of the ancient dance forms flourishes in South Africa, 150 years after the first indentured Indians were shipped to the plantations of colonial Natal. Ocean of Love  brings together these Indian classical styles, Ballet and African Contempory. Thanks to Tagore, Gandhi, Mandela and the legions of men, women and children we are inspired to rise against oppression, India and South Africa fly flags of freedom.

Concept and Creation - Verushka Pather, Kiru Naidoo & Artists of Ocean of Love

Music - Rajiv Mohan, Raga Symphony and Vicky Sampson

Costumes - Maliga Naidoo

Artists:

Venmonie Govender - Poet

Verushka Pather - Bharata Natyam

Varsha Sharma - Kathak

Thuli Khumalo - African Contempory

Cayley Thomas - Ballet

SPONSORED AND SUPPORTED BY

THE KZN DEPARTMENT OF ARTS & CULTURE, THE INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS, THE CONSUL GENERAL OF INDIA, DURBAN & NATYA ANANDA FINE ARTS ACADEMY

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