Lifting the Jewel from Its Filigree

By Julia Maxwell

FROM BEFORE the time of creation stories, we have been trying to explain us to ourselves. While questions about our essential nature may remain unanswered for all time, many of us feel compelled to explore them. For Julia Maxwell, this has meant an examination of her own story entwined in two vastly different ideas about identity. One reveals us as creators of our reality. The other tells us that we are powerless, bound in time and space, separated from our source. Lifting the Jewel From its Filigree is a memoir that penetrates the intimate complexities of mixing cultures through the ideas that have formed them. Maxwell recounts her journey to India, her career as a performing artist, and her marriage to the renowned kathak dancer, Pandit Chitresh Das. Her extraordinary personal story, that begins scarcely two decades following the end of British rule, reflects India's larger societal one as the new democracy struggles with issues of modernity. Lifting the Jewel From its Filigree will capture your heart with both its beauty and boldness.

JULIA MAXWELL is a dancer, entrepreneur, and author. As a young woman, she co-founded the Chitresh Das Dance Company, a nonprofit international arts organization. Serving as its executive director, she aligned artistic vision with business goals, coordinating fundraising events and grant applications while performing on tours in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and India. Following a 20-year performing career, she continued to pursue her dance interests at Stanford University, receiving an M.A. in Dance Education. Ms. Maxwell's kathak dance training was with Pandit Chitresh Das. In addition, she studied dance theory, history, and philosophy under the tutelage of Nityacharya Prohlad Das, director of Nritya Bharati Institute and senior lecturer at Rabindra Bharati (Tagore University, Kolkata). Today, Ms. Maxwell enjoys being a grandmother and a teacher of yoga aesthetics (yogaaesthetics.com).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1432768603
• ISBN13: 9781432768607
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"