• Choreography: Aditi Mangaldas 
• Group Performance / Live Music
• Troupe: 7-8 dancers/ 3 musicians/ 2 tech- light & sound/ 1 manager
• Vocal Composition:Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan
• Duration: 1 Hour 10 Mins 
• Premiere: India, 2006

“We look for fixed points, but there are none, either in ourselves or outside in the universe. To live without these fixed points is our challenge.” J. Krishnamurti

Standing alone, looking out at the distant stars, have we not wondered what is it all about? What lies beyond the realms of the known? What lies beyond what our mind can perceive? What lies hidden in the deep recesses of our heart? Is this search external, on paths that have been laid down through centuries? Is the search internal, again through paths that are known, tried and tested? Is this search still, without any movement?

* Without? Within? With?
“You will find freedom, truth, beauty, love, which are one and the same, only when you no longer seek them. Can the mind exist without the movement of search?” J. Krishnamurti

* Corridors of light
“Let it be revealed to these eyes that are thirsty.” Bhartendu Harishchandra

*Is this seeking external?
“I gaze, amazed at his beauty.” Meerabai

* Is this revealed gently?
“ like the soft sound of a dew drop falling upon a leaf in a dream.” Josh Malihabadi

* Is it a storm unleashed?
“ My heart is on fire, In my madness I roam the desert, The flames of my passion devour the wind and the sky.” Jalalludin Rumi

* Is this search internal?
“ Within oneself lie the sun and the moon.” Kabir

* Is it revealed when all search ends?
All that one seeks is there, and if one is silent, without outward or inward movement, then it is revealed.

CHOREOGRAPHERS NOTE:
“In the words of David Bohm, ‘The field of the finite is all that we can see, hear, touch, remember and describe. This field is basically that which is manifest or tangible. The essential quality of the infinite, by contrast, is it’s subtlety, it’s intangibility.’ The search for the intangible, may we call it God, truth, beauty, love or freedom, is the essence of UNCHARTED SEAS. Though I have separated the pieces, it is actually the entire production viewed in it’s entirety that tries to capture the essence of ‘SEARCH’. So each piece may or may not refer to all our queries. Some attempt to transform poetry into images or emotions. Others use abstractions of movement, light, space, rhythm, ambience to evoke images asking the same questions.” Aditi Mangaldas

“Her concept of the intangible embraces the divine and the profoundly human: love and freedom, truth and beauty being as cosmically mystical as god. This inspires wonderful excursions into the heart of rhythm, the energies of light, the ambience of space, the structures of movement and the power of stillness.” The Herald, Edinburgh International Festival, 2012

“Uncharted Seas is a polished, highly kinetic ensemble piece anchored in ‘the search for the intangible’…All the hallmarks of kathak were excitingly present: the slap of bare feet on a hard floor, the whirlwind pirouettes and the upper limbs flickering like a flame in front of each dancer’s sometimes tilted head… As a performer Mangaldas exudes a strong presence but laces this power with a delicacy and sense of detail…Into the group activities of both works she folded a pair of short but classy and contrasting dances for herself. The solo in Uncharted Seas was marked by speed and spins. Mangaldas looked positively regal as she quivered and stamped downstage to the sound of her own ankle bells. Her footwork appeared to catch fire.” Donald Hutera, August 18, 2012

“The essential quality of the infinite, is its subtlety, its intangibility… “Uncharted Seas” captures this essence and you share the artistes’ search for that which cannot easily be given a name… Through images that were so poetic, so beautiful, so pure that they actually hurt, Aditi and her team have managed to give us a glimpse of that which has no name. By no means an easy task!” Shanta Serbjeet Singh, 2006, Delhi