How Odissi and Kuchipudi joined the ranks of "major Indian dance forms" alongside Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam and Kathakali is a story that goes back to the 1950s.
In 1958, the then-six-year-old Sangeet Natak Akademi organized an international seminar on Indian dance. After the event, the Akademi presented actionable suggestions from the seminar - including an argument in favour of recognizing Odissi and Kuchipudi as "major Indian dance forms" - to policymakers. The rest, as they say, is dance history.
"The papers and discussions from 1958 are still heavily referenced today," Sangeet Natak Akademi Secretary Raju Das explained at a press conference to announce the second such dance festival-cum-seminar in the Capital from October 16-21.
The upcoming International Festival of Indian Dance is only the second such event in the Akademi's history. Dance scholars and practitioners from 60 countries are expected to participate in the festival organized in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The closed-door sessions in the festival will involve paper presentations and discussions, from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, on topics like the creative economy, ways to align corporate social responsibilities of firms under the Companies Act 2013 with the requirements of the Indian dance ecosystem, dance pedagogy in the 21st century and AI in dance. A QR code will take participants and attendees at the festival to an e-book of all 400-odd papers in the seminars.
In addition to the seminars, the festival will have daily dance and "ambience" performances, including a Kathak and Flamenco fusion from Maharashtra's Aditi Dance Collective, from 6.30 pm at Kamani Auditorium. The ambience performances by ensembles like Banwari Lal and Group and Rasiya Haryana, start at 8.30 am at the AP Shinde Symposium Hall in Inder Puri, Delhi, on all six days of the festival.
Adjunct photo exhibitions are also planned at the Lalit Kala Akademi from October 16-25, and the AP Shinde Symposium Hall. At the Lalit Kala show, visitors can expect to see paper clippings and images capturing 72 years of the Akademi, including the passing of the 1952 resolution to create the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The AP Shinde hall show will "highlight achievements of participating artists and presenters.
While entry to the performances and photo exhibition is free, the seminars and panels are closed-door discussions for registered participants only, said Sangeet Natak Akademi chairperson and Bharatanatyam exponent Sandhya Purecha at the press conference.
International Festival on Indian Dance 2024: What to expect
Dr Sonal Mansingh will open the performance segment of the festival at Kamani Auditorium on Wednesday (October 16). "It's the 525th anniversary year of Meera. Dr Sonal Mansingh's performance is about Meera and Krishna, and the Bhakti tradition," said Das on the sidelines of the press conference at Ravindra Bhavan in Lutyen's Delhi.
The performance calendar includes presentations by Indian and international troupes. All performances are at Kamani Auditorium, and each day's programme starts at 6.30 pm. Here's a quick look at what to expect:
October 16, Wednesday
Dr Sonal Mansingh (Delhi): Naatya Katha - Meera
Kerala Kalamandalam (Kerala)- Kathakali
October 17, Thursday
Mamata Shankar Dance Company (West Bengal) - Prakriti
Shantha Ratil (Singapore) - Kuchipudi
Taksu Art (Indonesia) - Ramayana / drama
October 18, Friday
Zhyuldyz Dance Ensemble (Kyrgyztan)
Sunanda Nair (US) - Mohiniattam
Sangeet Natak Akademi Presetation - Utkarsh - A Mosaic of Folk Dances of India
October 19, Saturday
Archana Joglekar and Group (US) - Kathak
Kalakshetra Foundation (Tamil Nadu) - Bharatanatyam
Lok Chhanda Cultural Unit (Delhi_ - Sarvesham Bharatah
October 20, Sunday
Chidakash Kalalay Centre of Art and Divinity (West Bengal) - Uparoopak Bhaanak
Aditi Dance Collective (Maharashtra) - Kathak and Flamenco Confluence
Sutra Foundation (Malaysia) - Odissi
October 21, Monday
Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (Manipur) - Maha Raas
Rajendra Gangani (Delhi) - Kathak
The festival, supported by ICCR and the culture and tourism ministries of India, cost around Rs 4 crore to put together. Raju Das explained that travel arrangements and artistes' fees account for the bulk of this cost.
Culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is expected to inaugurate the festival on October 16. Among those invited for the inauguration at AP Shinde Symposium Hall are Padma Vibhushan Dr Sonal Mansingh, Padma Vibhushan Padma Subrahmanyam and former Bollywood actress and BJP Lok Sabha member Hema Malini.
Significance of the Indian dance festival
In many ways, the 2024 International Festival on Indian Dance can be seen as a spiritual sequel to the 1958 conference. A press release to announce the festival noted that it is a "significant milestone for the Sangeet Natak Akademi, echoing the legacy of the historic 1958 seminar organized by the Akademi. This festival not only celebrates the artistic spirit but also provides a platform for dialogue on sustainability, empowerment and policy support."
The hope, Purecha and Das indicated, is that in addition to engaging audiences with the performances, the seminars will again produce actionable points on how to advance the creative economy around dance. To this end, the sessions are subdivided under heads like "Indian dance: Past and Present", "Continuity and Differentiability in Folk and Tribal Dance Forms", "Roots to Routes: Trends in Dance Industry", "Artificial Intelligence, Digital Media In and For Dance", and "Interdisciplinary Intersections of Dance".
"My favourite," Purecha said, "is 'Challenges of the Youth', because it shows how involved the youth are." Challenges of the Youth will have papers and discussions on topics like "enhancing creativity... while nurturing the traditional", "livelihood within the arts", and "financial planning for dancers".
Purecha added that the Akademi shortlisted some 400 abstracts out of 850-odd, to be presented during the festival. "The plagiarism-check was an important deciding factor... The festival will be like a manthan," Purecha said. A churning, perhaps, to generate ideas to advance Indian dance and the economy around it for the next 70 years.
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