Dance in IndiaSeraikella ChhauThe Mask Dance

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Raysof HopeThe Thread ofContinuity

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MS SubbulakshmiThe Divine Image

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3434343434Reports• Vishnu Digambar Festival• Yet Another Trip to the US• Gaya Thumri• Barrister Parvateesam• Chelenga Nrithyotsav - 2016• Guru Vandana• A Kathak Symposium• Jathis Delhi• Yoga in Oddisi• Krishnaveni• Nrityaantaranga

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BeyondBordersSummer ofIndian Dancein New York City

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VAKA Multifaceted Personality

• Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt• Jathis Aligarh• Smarananjali

THE DANCE INDIA | SEP 2016 | 58Surabhi Bharadwaj

Throughout the month of August, thisMetropolis has been swarming with dancersfrom India; their rhythmic beats brilliantly

coloured silks and bewitching expressions and handgestures adding a distinctive flavour to the alwaysextensive menu of dance. Wide ranges of formshave been on view this summer - the mostfrequently seen, Bharatanatyam and Kathak, butalso Odissi, Mayurbhanj Chhau and Indian-inflectedcontemporary.

It was not always this way. When I returned from athree-month stint in India as a Fulbright Lecturer in1992, Indian dance was relegated to school halls inoutlying suburbs. Rarely was Indian dance includedin festivals or other prestigious settings.

There were a few very important exceptions: RobertBrowning, founder of the World Music Institute,would ferret out superb Indian dancers andmusicians and present them in good halls beforeadmiring audiences at least once a year. RachelCooper, head of performing arts at Asia Society,presented Malavika Sarukkai and a two-dayconference on Indian dance, including local dancers,in 1994. Indrani Rehman, often with no institutionalbacking whatsoever, would present the likes ofRamli Ibrahim with a live orchestra. Since she wasteaching at leading dance conservatories such asJuilliard and NYU, Indrani was also opening theminds of the next generation of Western dancersand choreographers to the wonders of Indiandance.

Local expert performers such as Janaki Patrik andRitha Devi presented their own works annually.Janaki's presentation of Kathak with liveaccompaniment and innovative collaborations suchas Ka-Tap were revelations - a non-Indian artisteperforming a virtuoso Indian dance form at a levelthat topped many in the subcontinent.

Under my leadership, Battery Dance Companypresented both The Jhaveri Sisters Manipuri Dancersand C.V. Chandrasekhar and his Bharatanatyamensemble in New York and on national tours in 1993,Mallika Sarabhai's Janavak Folk Dance Ensemble in1994, and a roster of great Indian ensembles andsoloists every year afterwards. The most uniqueelement of our presentations was undoubtedly thevenues -- public parks where huge audiences werewon over by Indian dance artistry.

Rajika Puri, an Odissi and contemporary dancer/choreographer, actress and scholar, has had amajor impact on the evolution of Indian dance in New

Avijit Das

York. She encouraged presenters and critics to payattention to the dances and dancers of her homecountry and to give space on stages and reviews ina serious and consistent manner. Shewas one of the most important voicesin persuading the Joyce Theater, CityCenter and Skirball Center to presentNrityagram, Shantala Shivalingappaand Aakash Odedra. Recently, shehas championed Rama Vaidyanathanand the locally based Parul Shah,assisting these two exceptionalperformers in extending their reachexponentially.

The ascendance of Alastair Macaulayto the position of chief dance critic ofthe New York Times has been animportant factor in raising the profile ofIndian dance in New York and beyond. Itis obvious from the space and attentionhe devotes and the poetic language heemploys that he cherishes Indian dance at its best. TheTimes is the 'newspaper of record' and therefore,Alastair has elevated Indian dance to a much higherplane in the US than had been the case earlier.

The creation of the Indo-American Arts Council andits subsequent launching of the Erasing BordersFestival of Indian Dance in 2009 gave New York Cityits first annual festival of Indian dance. Though theIAAC was my brainchild and I was a co-founder,Aroon Shivdasani has been its heartbeat andgathered a curatorial panel with Rajika and Uttara

Coorlawala later joined by Preeti Vasudevan andParul Shah as its expert members. The roster ofartistes presented by the IAAC is veritable Who's

Who in Indian dance. This summer,Erasing Borders has presented RamaVaidyanathan, Sooraj Subramaniam, AvijitDas, Surabhi Bharadvaj, Carolina Prada,Sumeet Nagdev, Pandit Krishna MohanMishra as well as my own Battery Dancein The Durga Project with guest artistUnnath H.R. from Hassan, Karnataka.

As I write this report, Navatman, under theleadership of Sridhar Shanmugham andSahasra Sambamoorthi, is preparing forits fourth annual Drive East Festival inwhich a bounty of Bharatanatyamdancers will be on view including RukminiVijayakumar, Viraja Mandhre andShyamjith Kiran, Ramya Ramnarayan, SaiSanthosh Radhakrishnan and SanjayDoddamani; as well as Kuldeep Singh in

Odissi, Sunanda Nair in Mohiniyattam and Parul Shahpresenting the world premiere of choreography incontemporary Kathak.As Rachel Cooper points out, Indian dance is nowbeing taken seriously as 'dance', not relegated to asub-category of 'ethnic dance'. Many have played arole in this development and New Yorkers havecome along willingly, as can be witnessed by the factthat the audience for the Battery Dance Festival -Erasing Borders evening on India's IndependenceDay drew a crowd of over 2,000! We've come along way, baby!

SoorajSubramaniam

Battery Dance - The Durga Project with Unnath H.RTHE DANCE INDIA | SEP 2016 | 60

Carolina Prada

Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts