Getting to Know Beena Keum: SK's "First Practicing Odissi Dancer"

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Keum Bee-na is the first Korean practicing the traditional Indian dance Odissi. Living in the dance's remote home state of Orissa in east India since early 2005, Keum now shares her story in a recently published book.

Keum's first encounter with Indian dance was Mira Nair's 1996 film "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love," which she saw when she was a university student. "I was mesmerized at first sight, but there was no way to find out what that dance was. I felt a strong urge to go to India no matter what," Keum recalls.

Odissi is one of eight traditional Indian dances recognized by the Indian government and among the most famous together with Kathak and Bharat Natyam. It consists of rounded, circular movements. "It's erotic but subtle. Many people remember it as a belly dance, but there's no shaking of hips," Keum explains. In fact, the lower body remains almost fixed.

It was not easy to master. All Keum had was an image of the dance she saw in the film, and she had no idea what it was and where she could learn it. She went to India for the first time in January 2004 for five weeks. In October that year, she left to study at a Buddhist graduate school in Sri Lanka. During her six-month sojourn in Colombo, she learned that the dance she was looking for was from Orissa. She immediately packed her belongings and went there.

In February 2010, five years after she started learning Odissi, Keum's teacher allowed her to give her official debut performance there. Since then, she has been on stage almost every year in Korea, where she takes refuge from scorching heat of Orissa from April to June. She returns to India in early July.

"I plan to live in Bhubaneswar and continue to learn about the dance while touring for performances," she said. "I hope to perform in North and South America. There are so many things I want to do. I want to publish books on India and Orissa, and the Indian and Orissa languages."


Beena's Bio (as taken from her website)

Beena Keum has majored in French literature, comparative religious studies and philosophy from Sogang university, Seoul, South Korea. She had a special fascination for Hindu philosophy and Buddhism. One day while watching an Indian film, she was greatly motivated and mesmerized by an Indian dance style which was shown for a very short minute. After that she was frantically in search for the name of the dance for several years, but in vain. At last while studying in Colombo, Sri Lanka, she got to know the dance of the film was Odissi! In a week without delay she left for India carrying just one bag and three pieces of papers which had information about the contact addresses of Odissi Gurus. 

She believed that with learning Odissi technique, it was essential to understand the Hindu culture, lifestyle, and local language of Odissa. After reaching Konark Natya Mandap at Konark, Orissa, founded by Padmashree Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, she realized that it was a perfect place for that and started Odissi in April 2005. 

Presently living in Bhubaneswar, she has been taking classes from Great Master Guru Gangadhar Pradhan and his four senior disciples. Other than Odissi dance, she is also continuously practicing Odissi Song, Mardala (Odissi percussion), Sanskrit and Oriya language in order to have a deeper understanding and expression in Odissi. She had made up her mind to settle down in Orissa. For Beena, Korea is her fatherland and India her motherland. 

Notatble Performances:

- Konark Dance and Music Festival, Konark 
   (2006, Group)
- Posco-India, Bhubaneswar (2006, Duet)
- Hwagye Buddhism Temple, Seoul (2007, Solo)
- Mitsubishi-India, Bhubaneswar (2007, Trio)
- Bongam Buddhism Temple, Munkyung (2008, Solo)
- Haitai Crown, Seoul (2009, Solo)
- Beena Keum's Odissi Solo Show, Seoul (2009, Solo)

*Guru Bichitranand Swain, Guru Manoranjan Pradhan, Guru Lingaraj Swain, Guru Judhisthir Nayak
















This performance is 2+ years old.

Source: Chosun Ilbo, ArtBeena, Rediff

mad random, but i thought it was interesting. also, she's gorgeous. MODS: resize just the first pic, right?

Comments

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

damn she is stunning.

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

This is so awesome :O Blaze that trail Beena!

[chunsakuma.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating and wow, she's super-gorgeous and talented.

You Go Girl!!

[lapetite-indigo.livejournal.com]

That's amazing, she saw a glimpse of this dance in a movie, knew it was her calling, and packed up her stuff to go find it.

[fancifury.livejournal.com]

beautiful. you can see she has a sincere love for the art.

[xiahjunsubias.livejournal.com]

This is amazing. The dance is similar to Bharat Natyam, which I studied/practiced for 3 years. It is hard at first and your thighs/legs feel like jello for a while but so rewarding. This story makes me wanna rekindle my interest in Southern Indian classical dance.

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

Dang... Bharat Natyam is hard, serious props for that.

[ashyvt.livejournal.com]

aw man I used to do bharathanatyam for like 10 years, I loved it but it took up so much time :( and I had to stop for my A levels

[sweetemerald513.livejournal.com]

OMG I took it for 10 years, too! It does take up a lot of time, especially when you have to practice constantly for your Arangetram.

[deerlike.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember my bharatanatyam years. :') I never had much talent for it, but I don't regret learning it all the same. It's a very beautiful, expressive art form.

[cinnabun11.livejournal.com]

props to everyone who does Bharat Natyam. I did bollywood but it was nothing compared to what the bharat natyam girls were doing O_O

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

I love this. "She believed that with learning Odissi technique, it was essential to understand the Hindu culture, lifestyle, and local language of Odissa."

^ You're doing it right. <3

Dance clip from the movie:
http://youtu.be/QudBsXE3os4

Haven't seen this in 10+ years... this is making me want to watch it again heh

[deerlike.livejournal.com]

mte, she approached it from an angle of respect and empathy. And when you watch the video, you can tell she's devoting her life to this.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

OMG! I love ODISSI! It's such a gorgeous dance! & difficult too. I've seen girls doing it for so long that it's practically their life.

Lol @ people calling it Belly Dance tho. I only know performance where they combined both Belly Dancing & Odissi together:



Another version tho not as flawless as the first video:

[soramai.livejournal.com]

wow, the first video is beautiful!

[uledy.livejournal.com]

lol @ Hrithik Roshan's skeevy look (sorry, he's just always rubbed me the wrong way...)

But that first video, wow. So powerful and beautiful. Thank you for sharing :)

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Beautiful

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

Whoa this is gorgeous! And that smiling ajusshi is so qt~^^

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Those are her parents in the pic ^^ He looks so happy and proud *sob* super cute!

[swhyeon1991.livejournal.com]

Oic then, I thought they were some kind of panelists/judges or something lol XD;;;;;;
I know! He smiles like a 5 y.o lololol it's cute!

[dryadinthegrove]

I love watching dance videos, and as a belly dancer, seeing Asian dance more widespread can only be a Good Thing.

[kayleen-san.livejournal.com]

This! *fellow belly dancers here*

[babydollnana.livejournal.com]

so beautiful

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

STUNNING!

[sweetemerald513.livejournal.com]

That's really amazing! It looks very similar to Bharathanatyam. Both dances look really beautiful.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

omg i never thought i'd see a post about her here. odissi and kathak are my fave classical dances and i first learned about her while looking up oriya literature stuff haha.

[plantbottle.livejournal.com]

As a south asian dancer myself, I find this sooooo awesome. She's beautiful, as well as her dancing.

[10135.livejournal.com]

So beautiful!

[a-perfect-shade.livejournal.com]

woooo yeah!

[peanim.livejournal.com]

Great article, thanks for sharing!
I'm not a trained dancer or anything, but it's one of my favourite art forms. This is awesome!

Reading this also makes me super happy because I took an Indian Cinema class in my last semester in uni. The course should have been titled Bollywood Cinema but I had no complaints. None at all. I'm so glad I took that class. I found a friend through that class who introduced me to some traditional Indian dances. Long story short, it's opened up my interest for India. I can't wait to visit India once I can!