Friday, March 04, 2011
Press Release
Bridging traditions through Dances
India is one of the ancient civilizations; whose vast and deep intellect
has yielded many perplexing yet beautiful dance forms. India is the home
of one of the oldest yet authoritative treatise on performing arts, the
Natya Shastra (2nd Century BC), whose inspiration is seen in
all walks of an Indian dancer. Soorya
Performing Arts intends to introduce the authentic performing arts of
India to patrons in America.
With this objective in mind, Soorya Performing Arts proudly
presents St. Louis Indian Dance
Festival – 2011, a celebration of Indian Dance intellect. This will
be held on April 15, 16 and 17th in St. Louis, Missouri. This festival
brings many great dedicated professional artists performing traditional
Indian Classical Dance forms such as Bharathanatyam, Kathak, Odissi,
Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Sattriya, Kathakali, and
Mohini Attam to name a few of
the ancient dance styles. Apart from these classical dances, the
festival also presents folk dances of India such as Garbha, Bhangda,
Kolata, Dhimsa, Bihu and many more.
This dance festival is the brain child of Guru Prasanna Kasthuri,
who is a distinguished performer, teacher and choreographer of two
Indian Classical Dance styles. He points out, that this festival brings
out the basic elements of dance such as Nritta (Pure movement), Nritya
(Expressional Movement) and Natya (Dance Dramas), as well as, highly
creative, collaborative, ongoing contemporary productions.
This year’s St. Louis Indian Dance Festival presents many reputed dance
groups and dance gurus. One of the presenters, Natya Dance Theater, has
been hailed by the
The New York Times
as,
“Triumphant…an enticing mixture of restraint and abundance”, has
performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma
and the Silk Road Ensemble before an audience of 13,000 in Chicago’s
Millennium Park. The other
team – Abhinaya Dance Company, received the
Bay Area Isadora Duncan Award and has been nominated for 3
different Izzie awards. Very
graceful and elegant, Mohini Attam will be presented by experienced Guru
Sunanda Nair of Houston, Texas is originally from Kerala State, India;
young danseuse Lakshmi Kurup from Newyork also performs Mohini Attam.
The Kuchipudi dance style will be presented by Pallavi Prativadi, an
artist who was honored by the President of India for her excellence.
Guru Roopa Shyamasundara of Bangalore, India, presents her well known
production – “DESH”, the story of India. Excellent Bharathanatyam
dancers such as Guru Sujatha Srinivasan (Cleveland, OH), Guru Hema
Sharma (Kansas, KS) and a Jugalbandhi
(Fusion) of Kathak-Bharathanatyam by Lakshmi Shriram &
Ashwin Gogate will be other exciting programs of this festival.
An added dimension to the festival is the presentations from second
generation Indian Americans such as Anjali Tata who will be joining
hands with Prof. Patrick Suzeau, a professor of Dance from University of
Kansas, to present the collaboration of Indian Classical dance with
American Modern Dance. Another team led by Bharathanatyam Dancer – Dr.
Prathibha Natesan (PhD), presents Jazz-Bharathanatyam with the members
of Dance Department of the University of North Texas. Sreyashi Dey, who
is known for her
delicacy, dimensionality and a clarity of intention, will present her
brilliant Odissi dance,
where as MUDRA, the dance team from University of Columbia will present
Dr. Aditi Bandhopadhyay’s Odissi dance performance.
Another highlight of this festival is the participation of mainstream
American dancers, who have ventured into Indian dancing such as Kristin
Weiser, a ballet dancer, who is learning Indian dances for the past 9
years under Guru Prasanna Kasthuri; Charlotte Moraga of San Francisco, a
Kathak genius, a student of veteran master Pandit Chitresh Das; who is
known for his collaboration with Tap dances.
Soorya Dance Company, headed by Guru Prasanna Kasthuri will be
presenting “Ramayana” – a popular Epic of India through its Second
Generation Indian American dancers – Sumi Garg, Shalini Subbarao, Annuja
Mathivanan and with the guest artist Amudha Pazhanisamy, a student of
Guru Ranjani Saigal and Guru
Kausalya Srinivisan, of the Sunartaka School of dance based in Chennai,
India. Another young Indian American Akshatha Sridhar (Indianapolis, IN)
will be representing Kalakshiti Performing Arts, headed by Guru Sunitha
Gorur.
Guru Prasanna Kasthuri will be presenting his master piece –
Reflections
– A work based on his
experience in Kathak, Bharathanatyam and modern poetry based off of
poems reflecting World Peace.
Folk
dance teams such as Nartana , headed by Tejal Patel, presents Garbha
Raas; Bhangda by Washington University Bhangda; Janapada headed by
Prabhakar Betnag presents Kolata, Bihu, Dhimsa adding to the vibrance,
styles and colors of the dance festival.
St. Louis Indian Dance festival is supported by the
funds received from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; and the
Regional Arts Commission. This festival is co-sponsored by Gokul Indian
restaurant and other local businesses. For more details, please visit
www.sooryadance.com
or email at
info@sooryadance.com.
Venue:
Clayton High School Auditorium #1 Mark Twain Circle, St. Louis, Missouri
– 63021
Time / Dates:
6.30 PM
on April 15th
/ 4.00 PM on April 16th
/ 3:00 PM on April 17th
Tickets available:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1607159999