MEDIA & PRESS INFORMATION


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Festival Media Releases

For Immediate Release
August 1st, 2006
Toronto, Canada

PSA

8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference
 

Dates of Run – September 22 to October 1, 2006
Times of Performances:

Dance Chat: 6:45 – 7:15 pm -September 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, October 1
3:45 – 4:15 pm – Sunday, September 24

Performance Times:
7:30 to 10:30 pm – September 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Sundays: 4:30 to 7:00 pm
September 24 and October 1
Saturday, September 30 - 3:00 – 5:00 pm
Harbourfront Centre Theatre*
7:30 – 10:30 pm*
Monday, September 25
No performances
GALA DINNER – Location TBD

Conference and Workshop Residencies:
9:30 am to 5pm – September 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29
9:30 am to 3:00 – September 24, 30 and October 1
Monday September 25
No conference sessions
GALA DINNER – Location TBD

RESIDENCY IN CHHAU – Ileana Citaristi – 9:30 to 11:00 Tuesday September 26 - 28
RESIDENCY IN ZULU – Jayasperi Moopen – 9:30 to 11:00 Wednesday September 27 - 29

Ticket Prices:
Performances: $25 - $30; Seniors/Students/TAPA, PACT, CDA, WDA members 20%;
Early Bird Discounts before September 6th, 2006;
Multiple Tickets discounts.

Venue:
In Association with: Harbourfront Centre
Conference: Harbourfront Centre Theatre
Performances: Premiere Dance Theatre and Harbourfront Centre Theatre

Box Office:
416- 973-4000 (Open 1-6pm Tues. – Sat.)
Fax: 416-954-0366

Festival Website: www.kalanidhifinearts.org
Contact Person and Phone Number: – Karen Dempster, 905-764-7028, ext. 22
email at: admin@kalanidhifinearts.org 

Download the above in pdf format here.
 

For Immediate Release
September 21, 2006
Toronto, Canada

8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference
A Century of Indian Dance Part II, Toronto, Canada

The 8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference: A Century of Indian Dance Part II is coming to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre from September 22 to October 1, 2006 for ten days and nights of performances, workshops, talks and lively discussion on a century of Indian dance. As the first and oldest festival to celebrate East Indian dance in Canada, Kalanidhi Fine Arts founder and 2006 Artistic Director, Sudha Khandwani believes that the very best way to celebrate India’s rich culture is through its classical dance forms. “So much of Indian culture is tied to classical dance”, says Ms. Khandwani, “it is through our dance forms that we remember our ancient stories and keep our culture alive around the world.”

Ms. Khandwani has planned a stimulating and entertaining conference and festival that will tell the story of the near extinction of several forms of Indian dance, their revitalization in the last century and current evolution in new directions as Indian dance has traveled outside of India and taken root in other countries and cultures.

The theme of the 2006 Festival & Conference, A Century of Indian Dance Part II, completes the celebration of the past 100 years of Indian dance that was begun in the 2004 Kalanidhi Festival in which the dance styles of Kathak, Manipuri, Kathakali, Mohiniattam and Rabindranath Tagore’s unique dance dramas were featured and explored. The 2006 Festival will focus on the classical dance styles of Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Chauu and other contemporary expressions that will combine Bharatanatyam with Ballet, Modern and Zulu dance.

The Festival is also a celebration to mark the 50th Anniversary of Kalanidhi Fine Arts in India and the 15th Anniversary of Kalanidhi Fine Arts in Canada in which time the company has held presented 7 previous Festivals, all in Toronto. The 8th Kalanidhi International Dance Festival and Conference will be largest Festival that Kalanidhi has produced with 30 performances and over 100 Artists and Speakers coming from 7 countries including; India, England, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa, the U.S. and Canada.

The conference portion will pay tribute to the heroes of Indian dance such as Rukmini Devi who legitimized Bharatanatyam and raised it to an art form. Other tributes are planned to honour the revolutionary dancer, Chandralekha for her contributions toward contemporary Indian dance by bringing yoga, martial arts and an unadorned new approach which constituted the first step toward what is now referred to as “modern” Indian dance; Vempati Chinna Satyam founder of the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Madras in 1963 who is credited with returning Kuchipudi to an recognized classical Indian dance style and Kelucharan Mohapatra who is credited with having Odissi dance recognized as an art form. The Festival will also present a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan who is an internationally acknowledged scholar of Indian dance and the former academic director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre of the Arts in New Delhi, India.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to learn and see demonstrations on Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Chauu and Kuchipudi presented by some of the world’s most respected artists. For dancers and choreographers, the conference offers residency workshops in Chauu given by Ileana Citaristi and Zulu given by Jayesperi Moopen, Artistic Director of Tribhanghi Dance Theatre.


Dance Companies and soloists participating include:

BHARATANATYAM

  • Kalakshetra Troupe, from the famous Kalakshetra School in Chennai, India, performing Kalakshetra Today in Classical Bharatanatyam;
  • Tribanghi Dance (South Africa), fusion choreography of Zulu with Bharatanatyam under the artistic direction of Jayesperi Moopen; encore performance Wednesday September 27
  • Menaka Thakkar Dance Company, Canada (Artistic Director: Menaka Thakkar), performing Chitra – Warrior Princess, in Bharatanatyam and Odissi;
  • Priyadarshini Govind, India — Solo performance;
  • Aadith Narayan Seshadri (India) Solo, Amma Ananada Dhayani & Tillana
  • Nova Bhattacharya and Louis Laberge Cote (Canada) perform a new choreoography, Lingua Franca in Contemporary Bharatanatyam
  • Alakananda Nath, (Canada), a solo performance of Pankaja;
  • Janak Khendry Dance Company, Canada, (Artistic Director: Janak Khendry), performing Gayatri in Bharatanatyam;
  • InDance, Canada, (Artistic Director: Hari Krishnan), performing Purnima (traditional) & Inverse(contemporary), Bharatanatyam
  • Roger Sinha and Natasha Bakht, Canada, Sinha Dance performing Loha, a duet in Bharatanatyam and Contemporary;
  • India’s Sandhya Purecha performing a Bharatanatyam solo entitled Abhinaya Darpana, choreographed by Guru Parvati Kumar;
  • The Japanese troupe, Chaturanga performing Four Pieces in Bharatanatyam under the training of Guru C.V. Chandrasekhar;
  • North American premiere of Cleveland Cultural Alliance’s new Bharatanatyam production, Ekaantha Seetha... a lonely furrow, choreographed by V.P. and Shanta Dhananjayan, from Chennai, India and U.S.A.

ODISSI

  • Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia, (Artistic Director: Ramli Ibrahim), performing Spellbound in Guru Debprasad Das style of Odissi dance;
  • Menaka Thakkar Dance Company, Canada, (Artistic Director: Menaka Thakkar) — performing Chitra – Warrior Princess in Odissi and Bharatanatyam
  • Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia, (Artistic Director: Ramli Ibrahim), performing Vision of Forever in contemporary Odissi style;
  • Celebrated dancer Kumkum Mohanty, India, will perform an original choreography in Odissi;
  • Sujata Mohapatra, India, performing an Odissi solo repertoire as a homage to Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s style of Odissi;
  • Orissa Dance Academy, India, (Gangadhar Pradhan, Artistic Director), including four Gotipua dancers from Orissa, performing a wide range of Odissi dances
     

KUCHIPUDI

  • Shanta Rati Misra, India, performing a solo repertoire
  • Excerpt from Bhamakalapam performed by Shanta Rati Misra, India, and Ravi Mony, Canada, (A Kuchipudi Stri Vesham – male dancer in female role)
  • Usha Kala Niketan, Edmonton, Canada, will present Pasumarthi Venkateswara Sarma with his dance troupe from India in a Kuchipudi dance drama Mohini Bhasmasura;
  • Kuchipudi Collective, U.S.A., Anuradha Nehru, Kamala Reddy, Revathi Komanduri, Sasikala Penumarthi (former students of Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam), will perform solos on Saturday and a group dance drama called Krishna Parijatham.

CHHAU

  • Chhau and Odissi dancer, Ileana Citaristi, (India) will perform an exciting solo as well as a duet with Santosh Kumar Nair at the Festival and will conduct a three-day residency in Chhau.


Speakers and Scholars include:

  • HE Shyamala Cowsik, India’s High Commissioner to Canada will deliver the Welcome Inauguration and deliver a Tribute Honouring Dr. Kapila Vatysayana
  • Journalist and dance critic Dr. Sunil Kothari who will speak on a range of subjects including Tributes to: Mr. & Mrs. Krishna Rao, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sanjukta Panigrahi & Protima Bedi; the History of Bharatanatyam and Its Development in the Last Century, Alternative Visions – A Range of Gurus and Gharanas in Bharatanatyam, Honouring Chandralakha
  • Professor C.V. Chandrasekhar who will deliver a tribute entitled Legacy of Rukmini Devi, and conduct a lecture demonstration in Bharatanatyam
  • Dr. Padma Subramaniam from India speaking on her research on Bharatanatyam
  • Dancer Anuradha Nehru from the U.S. will deliver a Tribute honouring Kuchipudi Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam
  • Dancer and Secretary of Culture for the Government of India, Kumkum Mohanty will deliver an invited talk on the History of Odissi and Its Development in the Last Century and a Tribute to The Vision of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra
  • Founder and Artistic Director of India’s Orissa Dance Academy, Gangadhar Pradan will conduct a Lecture Demonstration on Odissi entitled From Gotipuas and Maharis to Present Day Odissi
  • Artistic Director of Malaysia’s Sutra Dance Theatre, Ramli Ibrahim will speak on Other Approaches to Odissi
  • Italian born Ileana Citaristi from India will conduct an invited talk on the History of Chhau and Its Development in the Last Century
  • Kuchipudi dancer, India’s Vedantam Venkata Naga Chalapathi and Chinese dancer Canada’s William Lau will conduct a lecture demonstration on Gender Transformation in Indian and Chinese Dance Traditions
  • Leela Venkataraman who will speak of the History of Bharatanatyam and its development in the last century;
  • Three independent papers will be presented by Lata Pada, Artistic Director of Sampradaya dance, Dialectics in the Diaspora – Bharatanatyam in the Canadian Context; Tradition and Innovation by dance scholar, Anne-Marie Gaston and Contribution to Indian Dance by dancer Jaya Subramaniam.

Ticket Prices:
Performances: $25 - $30; Seniors/Students/TAPA, PACT, CDA, WDA members 20%; Early Bird Discounts before September 5th, 2006; Multiple Tickets discounts.

Venue:
In Association with: Harbourfront Centre
Conference: Harbourfront Centre Theatre
Performances: Premiere Dance Theatre and Harbourfront Centre Theatre

Box Office:
416- 973-4000 (Open 1-6pm Tues. – Sat.)
Fax: 416-954-0366
Festival Website: www.kalanidhifinearts.org

Contact Person and Phone Number:
Karen Dempster, 905-764-7028, ext. 22 email at: admin@kalanidhifinearts.org