Transforming prisons through dance

Alokananda in performanceAlokananda Roy is a Calcutta-based dancer and educationist who gave a dance performance in Auroville called ‘Envisioning Our Mother: Sri Aurobindo’ in October. She shares about her spiritual connection to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and how this inspired her to begin a dance therapy programme at Presidency Jail in Alipore, the prison where Sri Aurobindo was confined for a year and experienced a spiritual turning point. How did your connection with dance begin? Alokananda: My first public performance as a solo dancer was in 1955 when I was four years old and I’ve been dancing ever since. My family was involved with dance, music, and poetry, especially on my mother’s side. My mother herself was a music teacher. So, I think it’s in my genes. I am trained in Bharatnatyam and Odissi, but in my childhood I was mainly doing free dancing. Later, I learned the different folk dances of India. Additionally, I have done Russian ballet in school and received a scho...
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