Calendar

Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi
National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama (an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of lndia)
in Collaboration with Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi
Celebration of the 156th Birthday of Swami Vivekananda

PROGRAMME
10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Inaugural Speech by Swami Shantatmananda Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Shruti Sadolilkar Katkar, Hindustani Vocal
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Prasad
1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Gundecha Brothers, Dhrupad
3:30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. Tea Break
4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Ronu Majumdar, Hindustani Flute

Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company- The Drishtikon Dance Foundation in collaboration with India Heritage Desk presents Drishtikon Home-Studio Baithak: Season II
It provides an opportunity to the rising talents to showcase their proficiency in their respective art form.

Bharatnatyam and Odissi recital by Sooraj Subramaniam
Kathak & Contemporary Solo by Aamrapali Bhandari
Hindustani Vocal by Faraz Ahmed

Date & Time : 13th January | 6PM
Entry by Donor Pass
Donor Passes for INR400
Limited Seating
Venue: Drishtikon Dance Studio

“Sahityanjali” A Bharatanatyam presentation supported by live orchestra exploring literature and unique writing styles across 5 languages by a platter of celebrated Indian composers.

Kiranmayee Madupu is a bharatanatyam dancer from Hyderabad. She is a disciple of Hemamalini Arni.

Shenpa is a contemporary dance piece by Gurgaon Dance Ensemble. Choreography: Swati Mohan. Light Design: Sagnik Chakrabarty & Styling: Anaam. The choreography is an exploration of a Buddhist concept called Shenpa using dance, theatre and live music. The attempt was to experience Shenpa in the body, instrument and voice using keywords like hook and itch to find “shenlok” (renunciation) collectively.

The exploration began with the idea of a holy moment, which is the complete opposite of Shenpa. The creative process supported the Buddhist thought that the whole life is about Shenpa and each “Shenpa moment” is an opportunity to break conditioned patterns in “self”. Tickets at Rs.200 and 300 are also available at the Programmes desk, Habitat World, IHC. Supported by Danza Performing Arts. An Old World Culture Presentation.

Green Room – An installation in Odissi

DANCE : Solo Kuchipudi dance performance by Ranjini Nair, disciple of Jayarama Rao and Vanashree Rao

“Bali Vadham“ from Abhiseka Natka of Bhasa

Kutiyattam of Kerala is the sole surviving art-form that represents the staging of ancient Indian Sanskrit dramas. It is believed that Kutiyattam can claim an antiquity of more than two thousand years and Kutiyattam has been recognized by UNESCO as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” from 2001. For a proper understanding of India’s ancient dramaturgy, a careful study of Kutiyattam is as essential as the study of Bharata’s Natyasastra. In some of the important temples of Kerala, a theatre hall is specially built for the performance ofKutiyattam called Koothambalam.

Directors: Guru Ammanur Madhava Chakyar and G. Venu

Cast: Ammannur Rajaneesh Chakyar (Sugriva), Sooraj Nambiar (Sri Rama), Pothiyil Ranjith Chakyar (Bali)

Dharohar a folk festival

MUSIC / DANCE : SONCHIRAYIA Presents “Dharohar” Folk Festival.
Live presentation of Folk Music & Dance of India

Programme Schedule :

3rd November :
Bastar Band
Charkula Folk Dance
Malini Awasthi

4th November : Panthi Dance
Manipuri Folk Dance
Jasbir Jassi

DANCE : Rag Virag presents Duet Kathak Dance Festival 2018

Schedule :

16th November 2018 Duet kathak dance  performance by  ;-
1 .Anukriti Vishwakarma & Mukesh Gangani
2. Rani Khannan & Shikha Sharma
3. Ram Mohan Maharaj ji & Sushmita Kanjilal

17th November 2018 Duet Kathak dance performance by ;-
1. Dheerendra Tiwari & Anjana kumari
2.  Neelam Chaudhary & Her Disciple
3.  Shikha Khare & Her Disciple

NATYA VRIKSHA presents GEETA CHANDRAN’s SWARNA, a solo classical dance performance to pay tribute to her Guru, late Smt. Swarna Saraswathy at 7 p.m., Monday, 19 November 2018 at Kamani Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi-110001.

My first Guru, Swarna Saraswathy hailed from an illustrious family of musicians and dancers. She was the daughter of the well-known singer Rajamani Ammal and the grand?daughter of the distinguished dancer Amritha Ethiraja Ammal, a disciple of Kutralam Narayanasami Pillai and Pandanallur Arunachalam Pillai.

She had her early training in dance under her grandmother and under Kanchipuram Thiruvengada Nattuvanar. “Visry” Chinnaiah Naidu taught her the theory of Bharatanatyam and she learnt the art of abhinaya from Mylapore Gowriammal. She was also trained in music by Tiger Varadachari, Namakal Sesha Iyengar and Satur Krishna Iyengar. From the age of seven she regularly accompanied her mother in music recitals. She was also a concert?level veena artist. What a complete grasp on the arts she had!

At the age of ten, in 1931, Swarna Saraswathy made her Bharatanatyam debut, her arangetram, following which she was launched on a hectic performing career, which lasted for over four decades. She danced all over South India and was widely appreciated for her skill and talent. In 1952 she went on a world tour presenting Bharatanatyam to audiences in Europe and was praised for “her eloquence in interpretative dance exposition.”

The highest accolade available in our country to an artist ? the Sangeet Natak Akademi award ? which is a recognition of merit by peers, was conferred on her in 1967, followed much later by the Ministry of Culture’s Fellowship in 1978.

In 1954 she launched her Bharatanatya Akademi in Madras and shifted base to Delhi in 1962, from where her Akademi continued its functioning.

A celebrated artist and a star-performer, Geeta Chandran began learning Bharatanatyam from the tender age of 5 years under the tutelage of Smt. Swarna Saraswathy, who hailed from the traditional Thanjavoor dasi parampara. Subsequently, Geeta continued learning diverse aspects of the classical dance from a galaxy of eminent Gurus.

Today she is a renowned artist who has synthesised the knowledge she received from her Gurus to imprint Bharatanatyam with her personal vision of the dance. In her dance presentations Geeta Chandran skilfully weaves abstract notions of Joy, Beauty, Values, Aspirations, Myth and Spirituality.

A polymath, Geeta Chandran effortlessly catalyses multiple vectors of creativity; She is celebrated not only for her deep and composite understanding of the art of Bharatanatyam, but also for her Carnatic music (she is a trained and accomplished vocalist), her work in television, video and film, theatre, choreography, dance education, dance activism and dance-issue journalism.

Geeta Chandran is Founder-President of her dance academy Natya-Vriksha in New Delhi. Natya Vriksha aims to make youth aware of the immense potential of Bharatanatyam to become a live voyage of learning. Through the dance, Geeta Chandran makes them comprehend the complex inter-linkages between the classical dance tradition and its strict grammar with other disciplines: Philosophy, Ritual, Religion, Myths, Ancient texts, Poetry, Literature, Art (Painting and Sculpture), Cultural Studies, Yoga, Handicrafts & Handlooms and Beauty & Aesthetics. Gender dynamics, gender equity and equality are integral to the pedagogy that Geeta has developed in her unique training module.

Geeta Chandran is also Artistic Director of the Natya Vriksha Dance Company, known for the high aesthetic quality of its group presentations that showcase Geeta’s metier as a choreographer.

A rare combination of being both a luminary and a visionary, Geeta Chandran is a widely respected role model for the young generation. She guides reputed national cultural institutions and prestigious universities as their Board member, and she also serves on the Advisory Boards of several reputed schools and colleges and on several Boards and Empanelment and other Committees of the Government of India.

An influential spokesperson for classical dance, Geeta Chandran is the author of SO MANY JOURNEYS, an intensely personal collection of her writings narrating her engagement with Bharatanatyam. She also writes an insightful dance column in The New Indian Express/Sunday Standard, and uses her unique space on social media to promote issues relating to Indian performing arts.

Promoting Art in Education is her particular passion and she is committed to catalysing youth audiences everywhere on the values that classical dance brings to life and living.

In her effort to “en-dance the universe,” she engages in a strategic range of dance-related activities: performing, teaching, conducting, singing, collaborating, organizing, writing and speaking to new youth audiences.

Geeta was awarded the prestigious national award — Padma Shri — by the President of India in 2007. She has also just been conferred the equally prestigious national Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Bharatanatyam for 2016, which she received from the Hon. President of India on 17 January 2018. In July 2017, Geeta received the NIRBHAYA PURUSKAR for mainstreaming gender equality issues in her dance. And in January 2018 she was conferred the International Women Achievers’ Award in Bahrain by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Geeta is also Brand Ambassador for IGL (Indraprastha Gas Ltd.) a leading public sector energy company. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tV5_PDuaME)

SAVE the DATE

Natya Vriksha cordially invites you to a Baharatnatyam Arengetram perfomance by Bindu Sharma disciple of Guru Geeta Chandran (Padmashri)

Sunday 25th November 2018, 6:30pm

Chinmaya Mission Auditorium

89, Lodhi Road New Delhi – 110003

DANCE : Kuchipudi recital by Ananya Khosla, disciple of Dr. Raja, Radha & Kaushalya Reddy

Kathak ensemble by Dancer, Choreographer and Artistic Director Drishti Dance, U.K, Anuradha Chaturvedi Seth

Event Description :  Dancer, Choreographer and Artistic Director Drishti Dance, U.K, Anuradha Chaturvedi Seth presents a Kathak ensemble featuring two interlinked works, exploring the evolving facets of the classical Indian form

The Concert “The Voice of Love” and the Inauguration of the Exhibition “Shakuntala and Other Love Stories”

You are most welcome to The Concert “The Voice of Love” and the Inauguration of the Exhibition “Shakuntala and Other Love Stories”, the charm of India in Opera and Ballet on 14th March 2019, 6:30pm at Italian Embassy Cultural Centre.

MUSIC & DANCE “Kabir- Antarman ki Awaaz

Event Description : MUSIC & DANCE “Kabir- Antarman ki Awaaz”.

An Old World Culture Presentation.

A musical based on Kabir that is a rich confluence of poetry, music and dance to drench the audience with his spirit and aura. Live rendition by Vidhi Sharma will be accompanied with choreography, narration and visuals.

Music: Pt. Ajay Prasanna

Choreography: Maitreyee Pahari.