Jaya Mehta is an Odissi Dancer and international performer, who is a disciple of Guru Pratibha Jena Singh and presents the odissi style of Guru Surendra Nath Jena. Jaya Mehta is an artiste whose work traverses multiple mediums: from dance and visual arts to poetry and film.
On the 19th of February 2019, Sahitya Akademi awardee poet, Prof. H S Shivaprakash launched the book of dance-poems ‘The Poetic Saree’, at The Bikaner House in New Delhi. The book emerges from her experience of nature, art and emotions through Odissi dance. She has performed these poems at the International Poetry Festival in Rotterdam and at the India Dance Festival in The Hague. The dance-poetry has also been published by the Levure Litteraire and filmed as ‘The Poetic Saree Video project’ by film-maker, Shabani Hassanwalia.
The poems are written in English, yet convey the rich essence of Indian culture and spirituality. Through the dance-poems, she presents to her dance-associations with Indian culture: the celebration that the Indian saree symbolises; the dialogue between dancer, sculpture and painting; how the boulders of Hampi evoke a dialogue with the Boulders within us, the changing landscape of the many Ritus of India and the experience of nature heightened through dance.
The choreography of the poems is born of Odissi and choreographed in collaboration with Dutch choreographer, Patty Broese Van Groenou.