I am visiting Kolkata after eons… in fact I’m here in India after four whole years, so on this vacation I decided to stay a couple of months longer to see if I could do a dance show while I’m here. That’s when I met Bittu Mondal, local Choreographer and Director of Sadhona Sonkolpo Dance Acdemy (SSDA).
He suggested doing a show based on my book ‘magicNine‘ and I remembered I wrote a story extract based on the theme of my book coupla months prior to its publication in 2014, which I had always wanted to turn into a dance spectacle… finally I got the chance!
life is a chance to dance… dance in abundance! ~ baisakhi saha
While on my travels across the globe during my student exchange programs, I had an intense desire to have an experience of myself which culminated in my incessant writings, midnight meanderings and mad musings over a period of three years that is compiled as an inner journey to consciousness in my book, which in turn propelled me to express those emotions through dance and thus abunDance my lust for dance was born out of the process of writing magicNine as a means of self-expression.
It was not just enough to decide to do a dance show within such a short time. We needed a theater to perform. At this time in Kolkata most of the govt. theaters are under renovation and usually bookings need to be done way ahead of the show. We had slim chances of getting one. But after 
a lot of pursuasion, persistence and perseverance, we managed to get Rabindra Tirtha, one of the best and most beautiful theaters located in the posh New Town, Kolkata. Excited we started making preparations for the show…
Bittu Mondal is a very gifted choreographer. He started Sadhona Sonkolpo Dance Academy (SSDA) in Kolkata, India where he teaches modern dance in contemporary style which also incorporates Indian dance classical moves, martial arts, kalaripayatu and other dance forms as a fusion of styles, movement, art, passion and creativity.
magicNine -the journey of love is my story and Bittu has transformed it into an engrossing choreography for a dance production at Rabindra Tirtha on Tuesday January 17, 2017 at 5.30pm. He organized, directed and co-produced the entire event with me, including acquiring the theatre, anchor, music editor, musicians, chief guests, sponsors, camera recording etc. Our anchor and host for the show, Buddhadeb Talukder is a gifted Bengali poet with a great sense of humor and an amazing vocabulary pot. He is sure to rock the show with his innovative lines, satirical mannerisms, excellent appeal and poetic charisma along with live background guitar and piano players!
In less than two months Bittu choreographed not only nine pieces of dance but taught his group of students and me, who is a total novice to this style of dancing. Thanks to the wonderful group that has been really patient and cooperative in letting me be the lead dancer in this show. This will be my first time doing contemporary dance and after a lot of initial awkwardness and funny moves, I finally got the flow… still I struggle with techniques and precision in my movements, but it is a journey and this is just the beginning…
There are nine stages in the journey of love; this is the story of Boi, the dancer…
dream- anticipation
- encounter
- desire
- obsession
- heart-break
- dark night
- transcendence
- magicNine
Read the full story at magicnine.baisakhisaha.com
A dance production by SSDA: magicNine -the journey of love!
Choreographer: Bittu Mondal
Author: Baisakhi Saha
Anchor: Buddhadeb Talukder
Music Editor: Bichitra Mondal
Media Partner: Prime24 Television, New York
Sponsors: Smile Production and Apyron Technologies
Performers: Bittu Mondal, Baisakhi Saha, Sushmita Biswas, Somrita Akira Bhaduri, Suparna Bakshi, Taulika Dhali, Jayita Mitra, Tina Das, Dipa Das.
This show will be extensively covered by Prime24 Television based in New York, USA and thereby broadcast all over the world through their platform and association with STAR Cable. Big thanks to Sumon Roy chief editor & graphic designer and Sourav Ahmed, CEO of Prime24 TV for partnering with us on this journey of love!
Here’s a pre-production interview in Bengali (বাংলা) on Prime24 TV, in association with Smile Production & Entertainment.
Host Buddhadeb Talukder in a chat with Bittu Mondal & Baisakhi Saha
Special thanks to Smile Production & Entertainment and a mention to its founders Dibya Dyuti Sarkar and Anupam Ganguly, for being our primary sponsor for this show and providing technical support with videography, photography, camera assistance, media interviews and more.
We also thank Apyron Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. for sponsoring and supporting this event financially.
We are very grateful to all our collaborators in this event; without all of your help, guidance and extensive support we wouldn’t have managed this show.
Here is a reportage of this event under Kolkata Diaries on ‘Ebela‘ local Newspaper in Kolkata India, 14 January 2017 highlighting the event details…
Language: Bengali
Read the story in Bengali, translated by Dr. Dipak Kumar Saha.
Read the story in Spanish, translated by Nicole Raisleger.
Read the story in English, original concept by Baisakhi Saha.
Post Production
And here’s May 2017 issue of The Scouts Bulletin featuring “magicNine -the journey of love”, a dance production by SSDA, with media partner Prime 24 Television; news edited & published by Dr. Dipak Kumar Saha.
Get the book ‘magicNine’ and visit the author page on Amazon here: amazon.com/author/baisakhisaha
baisakhi saha 
Excellent prelude to performance of ‘magicNine – the journey of love’ tomorrow evening at Rabindra Tirtha. It is good to have the glimpse of the characters shaping the show which will no doubt catch the imagination of the spectators – making the audience spell-bound and dancing in joy and abundance and the sponsoring agencies making it happen! Good luck and Best Wishes – Dr Dipak Kumar Saha
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