Dancer Kristina Luna Dolinina is Lithuanian but is a pucca Indian at heart. Her love for all things desi—and that includes a spicy and smokey baingan bharta—led her to study Hindi in detail. The Kathak-Odissi dancer had always wanted to learn a non-European language. As a student of philology in Vilnius University, she picked up Hindi and Turkish, but it was the lilting tones of Hindi that egged her on to learn more.
Kristina will perform Kathak at the 17th edition of the Lalit Arpan Festival being held at Stein Auditorium in Delhi on September 27-28. She says, “I was lucky to get a year-long scholarship from the Kendriya Hindi Sansthaan, Agra, in 1997 and then again in 1999.” While living in Agra, her inquisitive nature drove her to study the performing arts of India. “As a teenager, I was interested in theatre. Little wonder, Indian dance with its ‘abhinaya’ nuances attracted me. While I was getting ready for my master’s in Hindi Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, my teacher Przemyslaw Piekarski from Krakow University, Poland, recommended I learn under Padmashree Guru Shovana Narayan, an outstanding Kathak dancer and scholar. I ended up doing my master’s and learning dance. It is one of the best things that happened to me,” she says.
Elaborating on Indian culture that drew her in, Kristina says the diversity of India initially attracted her. “I come from a culture that is brain-driven, and art is excessively conceptual in nature. Indian performance arts opened up an entirely new world of emotional symbolism.” She adds the wide smiles on people’s faces in India always enthused her and filled her heart and soul. “Living in India also taught me patience and widened my understanding of the world and the ability to accept,” Kristina says.
The dancer confesses she began to learn Kathak almost ‘accidentally’, and Odissi was a more informed choice. “I love both the dance forms. Kathak for its grace, flow, lines, dynamics, body movement, and improvisation while Odissi has a completely different dance movement and expression. Perfecting a classical style with its vast repertoire and knowledge is a challenge. And to perform in two styles a lifetime is not enough,” she laughs.
Both dance forms are finding accepting audiences in far-away Kristina’s country. “For Lithuanians, they are exotic and unseen. But we still need to wait for a knowledgeable and mature audience to emerge. There are many artistes who practice Indian arts and organise festivals in Lithuania. Such events promote the arts, build cultural bridges, and present the forms universal phenomenon,” she says.
Besides propagating Kathak and Odissi in Lithuania, Kristina also teaches Hindi at Vilnius University there. “Hindi and the study of Indian performing culture are part of the curriculum of the South Asian Study programme at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies in Vilnius University. It’s doing
quite well and is slowly gaining popularity.”
The dancer does not miss perspective. She says almost wistfully, “I love the mountains of India. They make me feel so small, like a mere drop in the ocean. I wish I could settle in a village somewhere in the Himalayas or Ladakh. But, until that happens: koi baat nahi!”
Where and when
Lalit Arpan Festival 2018
September 27 and 28; 7 pm
Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, Delhi