Colleen Shakti.
BIOGRAPHY
Through the struggles of questioning her existence in her early years, Colleena found visual art expressed the confusing and isolating emotions of life. Searching for her place in the world took her down both dark and illuminated paths. The times of chaos and hardship she has survived, became valuable lessons which deepened her soul. Exploring truths fearlessly is a motto in her life and in her art.
After learning about Odissi classical Indian dance, it took 2 years of searching to finally find a teacher. In her first Odissi class (with Dr. Ratna Roy -Washington, USA) she struggled to hold back tears. They were not only tears of pain from the difficult steps, but from a feeling of being totally striped down to her essence. Odissi made a powerful impression on her and after just a few classes, with a complete feeling of fearlessness and a dream that lit a fire in her heart, she bought a one way ticket to India.
Colleena has devoted her life completely to dance upon arriving in India in 2001 when she meet her Odissi Guru, Padma Cheran Dehuri and settled in at Bhubaneswar, Orissa- the capital of Odissi dance. The task of training in Indian classical dance in a very traditional manner is not an easy thing. Just as the life of a Yogi must be disciplined and strict, so is the careful transformation into an Odissi dancer. In Odissi sacred dance Colleena has found deep connection to God through the art of dance. Her work in all dance forms centers around this principle in her life as a devotee. Her Guru has constantly been the driving force and flow of inspiration that allowed her to see the possibilities of a ‘dance life’ and do the work to manifest it under his guidance.
Colleena was the first outsider to go so deeply into the Khalbelia culture to find the origins and symbolism in their dance and lifestyle. Pioneering a way to convey this tribal dance, Colleen drew from her experiences in daily life with the Khalbelia as well as techniques from other Indian folk and classical dances to create a vocabulary that is easy to share with those who are not born into the dance tradition. Countless students from around the world have taken her workshops in various styles of dance to experience her thorough manner of teaching both the movements and cultural context from which they come.
In February 2007, Colleena and Shakti School of Dance presented: The Pushkar Temple Dance Festival; a full length Odissi Classical music and dance concert in the Old Rangji Temple. The evening concert highlighted both abinaya (dramatic storytelling dance) and nritta (purely dance) pieces with 15 dancers and 8 top level classical musicians, bringing the holy town of Pushkar their first classical arts event of this devotional nature.