The Coast News, Nov. 9, 2012

A10 THE COAST NEWS
NOV. 9, 2012
ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT
ARTS
CALENDAR
Got an item for Arts calendar?
Send the details via email to
calendar@coastnewsgroup.com.
NOV. 9
ART RECEPTION The North
Coast Repertory Theatre Café
& Gallery invites you to a special
Artist Reception for “The
Art of Ingrid Croce” from 6:30
to 8 p.m. Nov. 9 at North Coast
Rep Gallery & Cafe, 987 Lomas
Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach.
Call (858) 481-1055.
NOV. 10
ROCKIN’ AGAINST
HUNGER A Thanksgiving
Punk Rock Food Drive concert
begins at 4 p .m. Nov. 10 at the
Flying Elephant Pub & Grill,
850 Tamarack Ave. All proceeds
will benefit North County
Community Services, North
County’s Food Bank. For more
information, visit punkrockfood.com
or email
info@punkrockfood.com or call
(760) 517-6655.
NOV. 11
CHILDREN’S CONCERT
The community is invited to a
free concert fr om 3 to 4 p .m.
Nov. 11, featuring the San
Diego North Coast Singers children’s
choral group. The concert
will be held in Br essi
Ranch at Holy Cross Episcopal
Church, 2510 Gateway Road,
Carlsbad.
NOV. 12
CLOTH AS ART The Palomar
Handweavers’ Guild of fiber
artists, including spinners, knitters,
weavers and basket makers
meets at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 12 at
Trinity Episcopal Chur ch, 845
Chestnut St., Escondido.
Elizabeth Wayland Barber will
discuss the origin and de velopment
of textiles. Contact Kathy
Lambert at (760) 723-8783 f or
more information.
W.C FIELDS “W.C. Fields as
Himself!” is on stage at 7:30
p.m. Nov. 12 and Nov. 13 at the
North Coast Repertor y
Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa F e
Drive, Solana Beach.Tickets are
$22. Call (858) 481-1055.
NOV. 13
FORSOOTH! Intrepid
Shakespeare’s Artistic Director
Sean Cox offers acting classes
on the Bar d’s speeches and
scenes, Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:30
p.m., Nov. 13 through Dec. 4. No
prior training/experience necessary.
To register, email classes@intrepidshakespeare.com
or phone (760) 652-5011.
NOV. 14
LIBRARY CLASSICS
Friends of the Carmel Valley
Library present “Kabbalah
Suite” by UCSD g raduate
Yochanan Sebastian Winston as
November’s free family music
program at 7 p.m. Nov. 14. 3919
Townsgate Drive in Carmel
Valley in the library’s community
room. It will featur e
Winston's virtuoso flute, bass
flute, soprano and alto sax playing.
For further inf ormation
call (858) 552-1668.
NOV. 16
CURTAIN UP! The Oceanside
Theatre Company will host its
Opening Night Nov. 16, 217 N.
Coast Highway, Oceanside,
with a reception with appetizers,
desserts, wine and a r affle
for opportunity baskets before
the opening night of “You Can't
Take It With You,” for an additional
$15. For more information,
call (760) 433-8900.
By Lillian Cox
ENCINITAS — Shalini
Patnaik is a Calif ornia girl,
born and r aised in San
Diego.
In fact, she’s a f ormer
Miss San Diego and a g raduate
of UC Santa Cruz.
Like Americans of Irish,
Italian and Mexican descent,
Patnaik enjoys sharing
aspects of her cultur e with
others. For her and her sisters,
Shibani and La boni,
this happens to be classical
Odissi dance, thought to be
the oldest sur viving dance
form of India.
Patnaik, who began
studying Odissi at the age of
5, is considered to be one of
the best dancers of her kind
in the world.
In 1998, at the age of 15,
she was recruited by
Madonna to c horeograph
and dance at the 1998 MTV
Music Awards. Later, she
choreographed Ricky
Martin’s 2006 World Tour.
Today, she serves as certification
project manager of
Quality Assurance
International in San Diego, a
company that certifies
organic fruit and vegetables.
When she’s not in the office,
chances are she’s exercising,
rehearsing, teaching or performing
Odissi dance somewhere
in the world.
Last week she returned
from Vancouver where she
was featured at the Gait to
the Spirit Festival of Indian
Classical Dance at the
Scotiabank Dance Centre.
Patnaik explained that
Odissi dancers use facial and
hand gestures to convey traditional,
mythical stories. As
dancers perfect the f orm,
they are given more freedom
to express themselves by
interpreting their own poet-
Shalini Patnaik is considered to be one of the best Odissi dancers in the world. In 1998, at the age of 15, she
was recruited by Madonna to choreograph and dance at the 1998 MTV Music Awards. From left: Manjari
Ehrlichman, Shibani Patnaik, Madonna, Laboni Patnaik, Shalini Patnaik. Courtesy photos
ry and stories thr ough
dance.
“Odissi is one of the
most graceful dances,” she
explained.
“We have a saying that
from the w aist down you’re
strong like a stone, while the
upper body is soft and graceful.
It’s that combination of
strength and g race that
makes it very appealing.”
Like ballet, rigorous
exercise is required to
achieve such grace.
“Dance training starts
with a set of w arm-up exercises
that are repetitive,” she
said. “It’s a mixture of yoga
and aerobic exercises —
squats and jumps.”
Patnaik explained that
the dancer is in a squat position
almost all the time.
“It requires a lot of quad
strength,” she said, adding
that strength is needed to
make the pr oper sound of
the foot hitting the ground.
“I think during m y last
dance performance
(Vancouver) I burned 5,000
calories during a solo performance
that lasted 1 and
1/4 to 1 and 1/2 hours,” she
said.
Patnaik teaches students
in a small dance studio
in the family home.
Her students range from
age 4 to 40, many of whom
are children with at least one
Indian parent while other s
are typical California women
who have embraced the art
form.
“We bring teachers that
we trained with fr om India
to live with us for six to 14
months at a time, ” she said.
“When they are not her e,
one of us (sister s) will tak e
over.”
Oldest sister La boni
Patnaik works in go vernment
relations at Qualcomm.
Middle sister Shibani is vice
president of Global
Analytics.
“I’m very lucky because
I work a lot with people in
India and the U.K., so I work
early morning and late at
night,” Shibani said. “I have
lots of time to w ork on
dance.”
Shibani just r eturned
from a 16-city tour with a
music ensemble fr om India.
She performed at v enues
that included the University
of Buffalo, N.Y.; University
of Maryland, College Park;
University of North Texas,
Dallas and international
dance centers including
Peridance in New York City.
“Growing up in the U.S.
and having that connection
with ancient dance tr aditions
keeps me in touch with
my culture,” she said, adding
that she a voids standard
repertoires, preferring
themes she develops such as
peace and the c ycle of life
that reflect the philosophy of
Hinduism.
“The more explanation
we give, the more relevant
the dance is to toda y’s audiences,
and the more interested
they become,” she said.
“Our goal is to r each mainstream
America and to
spread messages through the
dance itself.”
For more information,
including the perf ormance
schedule, visit the Center for
World Music San Diego at
centerforworldmusic.org or
patnaiksisters.com.
Cardiff photographer captures peak experiences
KAY
COLVIN
A Brush With Art
It’s been said that Cardiff
photographer Abe Ordover’s
work captures the peak experiences
that c hanges one’s
life.
With emphasis on color
and an impr essionistic
approach, his nature-based
images evoke a vie wer’s
strong emotional r esponse
reflective of the artist’s original
experience.
A native of F ar
Rockaway, New York, Ordover
relocated to Car diff in 2004
after opening his gallery in
the Cedros Design District of
Solana Beach.
Ordover says of his
gallery, which is devoted to
nature photography, “For the
most part art galleries
ignored nature photography,
including images created by
the great National
Geographic photographers. I
was fortunate to enlist many
of those professionals in the
gallery and thus brought their
work, and my own, to public
notice as fine arts.”
Since 2006 Ordover has
also served as director of the
Ordover Gallery at the
Museum of Natural History in
Balboa Park, where he regularly
curates highly regarded
photographic exhibitions.
Ordover worked 43 years
in the legal profession, having
graduated magna cum laude
from Syracuse University and
the Yale Law School.
After ten years as litigator
and trial lawyer followed
by twenty years as law professor
at Hofstra University in
New York and Emor y
University Law School in
Atlanta, Ordover established
a firm specializing in arbitration
and mediation.
Ordover says of venturing
into photo graphy, “I
began shooting in 1980 during
a trip to Rocky Mountain
National Park. Thus hooked, I
began traveling with nature
pros all over the country. That
was my art education and it
continues to this day.”
During the past tw o
decades, Ordover has photographed
exotic locations in
the Middle East, Africa,
Abe Ordover is director of the
Ordover Gallery at the Museum of
Natural History in Balboa Park and
currently has work on display at L
Street Fine Art Gallery in San
Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter.
Photo courtesy of Will Gibson
Antarctica, Alaska, Iceland,
Arctic Norway, and the
Galapagos Islands. Having
photographed some of the
earth’s most br eathtaking
regions, Ordover says of his
work, “I am seeking to convey
the emotion I felt when I
stepped into the scene.”
New York Times critic
William Zimmer said of
Ordover’s work, “The grand
moments in all our li ves are
embellished.The peak experiences
are the kind that
changes one’s life, and Abe
Ordover captures them.”
When Ordover began
using Adobe Photoshop in his
work, he found that his
images reached a n ew aesthetic
level. Digitally manipulating
his photographs to create
images uniquely his own,
Ordover says, “The computer
gives me an emotional, dramatic
lens.”
He continues, “The evolution
of my photography has
primarily been a movement
from representational images
to abstract renditions.”
Ordover has author ed
several books including his
most recent “Roar of the
Monarchs,” and had numerous
solo shows in New York
City, Atlanta, San Diego, and
Palo Alto, Calif., as well as the
Parthenon Museum in
Nashville, Tenn., and the
Send your arts & entertainment
news to arts@thecoastnews.com
Dance keeps sisters in touch with culture
Shibani Patnaik travels the world
performing Odissi dance like
younger sister, Shalini, and older
sister, Laboni. She’s performing in
the ancient Rajarani temple in
Orissa, India
Fernbank Museum of Natural
History in Atlanta.
Photographic works by
Abe Ordover, along with glass
work by Michelle Kurtis Cole,
are currently on exhibit in
“Mysteries of Light and
Form” at L Street Fine Art in
San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter
through Dec. 31, 2012. The
public is invited to attend the
artists’ reception Nov. 17.
Learn more about Abe
Ordover at
Ordovergallery.com.
Kay Colvin is an art consultant and
director of the L Street Fine Art
Gallery in San Diego’s Gaslamp
Quarter. She specializes in promoting
emerging and mid-career artists and
bringing enrichment programs to elementary
schools through The Kid’s
College. Contact her at
kaycolvin@lstreetfineart.com.
Be our fan on
theCoastNews.com
and click link