“Desire and divine are one and the same.”
The show opens with this seemingly contradictory statement and draws you in. What follows is a sumptuous dance performance elaborating on it.
Temple of Desire by Karma Dance Inc. was performed at Aki Studio for the 2025 Toronto Fringe Festival. Their promotional line, “a celebration of spirituality and sensuality through the beauty of classical Indian dance” lured me to the show. It did not disappoint. My first note while watching the performance was that “the most beautiful and graceful man” is opening the show as a deity. The exploration of this divine being’s form becomes a recurring motif throughout the show.
It proceeds from there in a symphony of hands, feet, and faces in synchronicity. The medium is bharatnatyam – an ancient Indian dance form with elaborate costume and makeup, and precise exaggerated expressions with sharp eye-movements that convey every beat of the music and story. The dancers wear beautiful saris with theatrical makeup and hair – gorgeous hair nets, alta (indian dye), and earrings. The music alternates between western beats and Indian music.
The dancing is breathtaking – graceful, coordinated, and clean hand, foot, and body movements – collective thumping of feet; beautiful dance formations; jumps; solo, duo, and group performances; with top-notch expressions.
There were so many stand out sections but for me, a segment where the dancers express sexuality with their facial expressions and hand movements with flowers in both hands was innovative, creative, and expressive while being completely modest. I was seated next to a kid and that segment did not feel inappropriate for her comprehension level.
The performance explores multiple themes like female rage, death and revival by God’s grace, and queerness through stories from Indian mythology like Goddess Durga’s Mahishasura mardini avatar and Draupadi’s cheer haran.
Being from the same culture, I loved watching the interpretation of these stories. I watched the show with a full house and I wondered about the experience of the non–Indian audience. But the performance was abstract, and despite knowing the cultural background, I didn’t grasp every aspect of it. At the same time, I was at the cusp of tears right from the beginning of the show. The performance bypassed my thinking self and resonated directly with my heart. And that was the triumph of the performance.