The stunning performance given by Jaya Mehta and Swaati Vivek was a classic treat to the eye. What impressed me most is that through descriptions they related miniature paintings and sculptures to their work. This very fact made the entire presentation twice more informative and made me respect their zeal in bringing Indian classical dance to the frontiers of our lives. I look forward to many more such performances, to enrich myself and others around in the knowledge that they are so beautifully distributing with the right perspective.

"Jaya Mehta’s dance was so incredibly filled with emotions and feelings for Lord Jagannath and Shri Krishna. Both spiritualist and so called non-spiritualists could all experience her transfer from this world to the spiritual world, experienced within her mind meditation. Jaya Mehta’s dance and especially facial expressions made us feel lucky to have a small place which enabled us to be close enough to see and experience the exchanges between her and Krishna that were being mirrored on her face. "

"Dance Travels isn’t quite a performance of the sort us Mandi House regulars understand. The presentation combines dance movements with visuals, audio tracks, footage and spoken word, to build on myths and traditional stories – like a dynamic spin off of a lecture – demonstration. The unconventionality of this series stems from the agenda of connecting classical dance with a larger audience, not just the rasiks who turn up at IIC and IHC. Even though Jaya Mehta and Swaati Vivek prefer to to stick to the Surendra Nath Jena purist method..with Dance Travels they hope to bring alive some myths and stories through Odissi concepts for the audience. Jaya attempted this before with her workshop, “Mum,ME and Odissi”, where children and their mothers had the oppurtunity to engage with the dance form(one of the six classes was devoted to just the costume). In the grown up version, Dance Travels, Jaya Mehta and Swaati Vivek may have already succeeded in what they set out to do: to ensure Odissi travels out of the auditorium."

I am not a regular at classical dance performances but I really enjoyed the evening by Dance Travels. I often worry that in our fast-paced urban lives, we are losing all the oral stories and traditional knowledge that were passed from generation to generation by our forefathers. I would wonder what bedtime stories we would tell our children, since we don't know many anymore! But with this evening, all those traditional stories came alive for us and we understood how they are connected to our daily lives.