Basking in Controversy

by Ali Hasan Cemendtaur

January 02, 2005 09:01

‘Suppressed Voices’, a cultural program hosted by Friends of South Asia (FOSA) in December

(excerpt from a longer article)

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Tina’s dance was to be followed by video presentations but the computer that hosted the material refused to cooperate. While the technical problems were being resolved someone pointed out the presence of Jaysi Chander in the audience. Jaysi Chander is a master dancer who has taken her show ’Lamps on Lilypads’ to many cities. A doctor by profession Jaysi is now set on a healing mission through a new genre of art that she seems to have invented-it is dancing combined with powerful poetry. She reads an eclectic mix of inspirational poetry by various poets with themes of love and peacewoven.

Knowing a little bit about Chander’s background one finds it heartwarming that a daughter of an immigrant, who must have felt the bitterness of leaving his ancestral land (Lahore) in 1947, could express her love for humanity in such a convincing way. Watching Jaysi dance and talk at the same time it is hard for you to decide if you should concentrate on her fluid body movements or on the profound thoughts she is articulating. Jaysi Chander is a dancing sage.

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Source: FOSA