A JOURNEY of spirituality – that is how Bavani Kanesamoorthy (below) describes her latest production Buddha: The Splendour of Enlightenment that will be staged at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s Plenary Hall this weekend.

The dance musical will centre on the life of Prince Siddharta who went on a journey in search of the truth and peace for mankind. Eventually, he came to be known as Buddha, a fully enlightened being.

"This production will be presented in English," says Bavani, who is the founder and principal of the Bharatanjali Dance Academy that was established in 1990.

About 80 performers will be presenting Buddha’s story in a fusion of Indian classical dance and flexible contemporary and folk movements.

"I’ve chosen to tell this story for many reasons," she says. "In telling the story of Buddha, my students will go through a spiritual development and this, indirectly, will mould them into better individuals.

"The children from my dance school will also get to see how a prince could give up his materialistic life to lead a life of righteousness."

She says she wrote the script after spending more than a year doing research on the different versions of the story of Buddha.

"I want to tell his story in the most interesting way. I carefully picked out the most important moments in his life.

"When people walk out of the hall after watching my production, I want them to feel as if they’ve actually seen him and are a part of his story."

The spellbinding music for the play, a mixture of traditional and modern beats, was recorded in Bangalore, India, by Indian music director Sir Praveen D. Rao.

"This year, my dance school will be celebrating its 20th anniversary and we’re proud to stage this play in one of the most prestigious halls in the country," Bavani adds. – Bissme S.