Manick Sorcar Reaching 'Beyond Boundaries' at the NABC 2004:

Baltimore Convention Center

Baltimore, MD, July 2, 2004, 8:30 PM


It finally happened. Manick Sorcar’s long-awaited “Beyond Boundaries” – the Grand Opening Ceremony was shown at the 24th North American Bengali Conference at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland. An estimated 8,700 people attended the conference this year.

The hour-long extravaganza of laser-animation-live action displayed an electrifying show with 64 artists originating from Denver, Colorado and Baltimore/Washington DC area. The choreographer for the Denver group was Payal Sorcar and for Baltimore/Washington DC group was Jayantee Paine-Ganguly. The dance director of the entire show was Piya Sorcar.

In a Calcutta street scene, under Manick Sorcar’s direction, popular film star Rituparna Sengupta acted as herself where she interacted with her young fans. “By far this is the most spectacular Opening Ceremony we have seen” was the general remarks of the audience.


Fusion dancing in combination with laser
lighting effects (Denver group)

A scene from Beyond Boundaries:
Opening Ceremony (Baltimore/Washington DC group)

Fusion dance (Denver group)
The excitement over this Opening Ceremony was cooking for a while. Apart from being a house-hold topic, it also became the front page news on July 2 in Anandabazar Patrika, internet edition.
Fusion dancing in combination with special laser
lighting effects (Denver group)
Film star Rituparna Sengupta and some of her admirers in a scene from Manick Sorcar's Beyond Boundaries

A dance from city Bengal (Denver group)
Anandabazar Patrika (July 2, 2004) wrote, “Thousands of Bengalis will witness today the unique Opening Ceremony which is the collage of the creative-mind and brain-work of Manick Sorcar. When the authorities told us about the Opening Ceremony, we did’t quite comprehend how Manick Sorcar was going to mix a string of songs, dances and skits with animation and tides of illumination. But when we got a glimpse of it (during stage rehearsal), we could’t help but express our feelings with one word 'Wow!!'” .
The hour-long extravaganza took the audience from rural Bengal to city Bengal to Bengal abroad and beyond boundaries. Through a series of popular nostalgic songs accompanied by enchanting dances, Manick Sorcar cleverly displayed how Bengali culture, which started from villages, eventually spread around the nation and abroad.
Selected scenes from Beyond Boundaries: Opening Ceremony (Baltimore/Washington DC group)
The dances, music, costumes, light, color, background scenes all took the audience step by step from one place to another. The “Beyond Boundaries” was achieved at the end, where participants of different background – European Americans, Asian Americans, and African American harmoniously danced to celebrate the culture of Bengal with a touch of magic.

Traditional Bengali dances (left: Baltimore/ Washington DC group) to modern fusion dances (right: Denver group)
combining steps of the East and West reaching Beyond Boundaries
“Manick Sorcar stunned the audience from the very beginning", a rave review was again on the front page of Anandabazar Patrika (July 4, 2004),"his unique presentation of the Opening Ceremony with magnificent choreography, enchanting music, and laser-light-magic thrilled the audience…they started singing aloud with the nostalgic songs". An interview with TV Asia, which took place right after the show, was telecast several times with footage of the show for the next several days.
Selected Scenes from Beyond Boundaries: Opening Ceremony
(left: Denver group, right: Baltimore/Washington DC group)
Baltimore, MD, July 3, 2004, 8:30 PM

Dancing with My Soul: A combination of laser and live action
Sorcar’s unique shows of the second day, too, took the audience by storm.

Two successive items (1) Dancing with My Soul, and (2) Underwater Fantasy were shown in the evening (8:30 PM).

In the first, the spirit of a depressed dancer, (performed by Piya Sorcar), was uplifted by her soul (laser animation), and in the second, audience was lifted from the auditorium to the bottom of the ocean to experience the rescue of a missing water fairy.
Behind the Scenes: Manick Sorcar Productions Denver group

NABC 2004 Stage Design by Manick Sorcar
It might be interesting for the readers to know the spectacular stage of “Ananda Mancha” was actually the brain-child of Sorcar himself. At the request of the NABC 2004 authorities, Sorcar designed the 3-stage performance arena with a massive split-arch proscenium – decorated with East Indian ornamental motif, and surrounded by three-dimensional artwork with special lighting. When asked about his stage design Sorcar said “We live in USA, the super-market of the world – where we could buy anything to make the stage spectacular. But that was not my goal. I wanted to decorate this stage with hand-drawn popular icons of the daily life of Bengal…our roots come from there, and we will go with these in our heart to beyond boundaries”
A model comes to life. Sorcar with his model display at NABC 2004 (left), actual stage (right)

NABC 2004 is the second Grand Opening Ceremony Sorcar directed. The first was in 1999, where he directed over 70 performers from the San Francisco Bay Area including former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen. At the Awards Ceremony, he was honored for promoting Bengali culture in North America .

More information on Sorcar's other touring stage productions.


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