Threads of History: Resurrection of a Textile

Dance artist Madhusmita Bora’s Threads of History: Resurrection of a Textile brought to life the stories embedded in the “Cloth of Vrindavan.” Bora collaborated with monk, choreographer, and scholar Bhabananda Barbayan to curate a program that draws its movement material from Sattriya, a classical Indian dance form that has a shared history with the cloth, while creating new dance vocabularies and themes. The 17th-century textile from Assam, India, held in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, depicts stories of Hindu mythology that touch on themes of love, peace, beauty, and the triumph of good over evil. The Dancing Monks of Assam performed the work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they presented dances characterized by intricate footwork, as well as ritual practices of the monastery, including devotional hymns and yoga postures. The museum’s curator of Indian and Himalayan art, Darielle Mason, and senior curator of costume and textiles, Dilys Blum, provided curatorial insights in interpreting the cloth and illuminating its history, and a short film accompanied the project.

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