Dance is as old as time and body. Since time immemorial, it has been a form of art that tells tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata and weaves an intimate relationship with stories. With mesmerising classical and contemporary performances, The Natya Ballet Dance Festival 2022 presents such expressions of dance that range from puppets and puppeteers to timeless epics.
Some of the participating artists and experts of the three-day event are Parshwanath S Upadhye, Arshiya Sethi, Vikram Iyengar, Sandhya Raman, Dr Navina Jafa, Dr Anita Ratnam, Prof. Rita Gangully,Sharon Lowen, Dr Shovana Narayan, Manjari Sinha, Dadi D Pudumjee, Navtej Johar and Ajay Bhatt.
The festival is a three-day event.
Unmasked, a delightful mix of Bharatanatyam, Contemporary Dance and English Theatre, takes us on a journey to Lanka through the eyes of pivotal characters in the Ramayana, as it explores the character of Ravana through the eyes of his beautiful wife Mandodari.
Abha, to be delivered in traditional Bharatanatyam format, is a stunning retelling of the Ramayana through the eyes of Sita, paired with live musicians rendering soul-stirring music interspersed with verses in Mishra Awadhi, Kannada, Sanskrit and Marathi, with English narration.
Draupadi, a Natya Ballet Centre production, explores the status of modern-day women against the backdrop of the life of Draupadi. The show has also been performed at the Khajuraho Dance Festival, the prestigious Cervantino Festival in Mexico and at the European parliament.
The festival’s outreach programme curates and presents forms of dance to highlight for them India’s rich palette of classical and folk movements that incorporate both style and vigour, glorious costumes, elevating music, and historical tidbits. This is done in an effort to reach young, school-going audiences from NDMC school and other places.
Due to the pandemic, the festival’s planned inclusion in Natya Ballet Center’s milestone 60th birthday festivities in 2020 was postponed. The third iteration of this grand festival of dance will feature three excellent evening performances based on ancient epics, three in-depth lecture demonstrations, a more sober panel discussion on how to reboot the dance, excellent conversations with living dance legends, and the outreach programme.
The festival is supported by Sangeet Natak Akademi and sponsored by Sotheby’s India and Rasaja Foundation.
When: 25-27 November
Where: Kamani Auditorium, 1 Copernicus Marg, Mandi House for performance and Meghdoot 3, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Rabindra Bhawan, Ferozeshah Road, Connaught Place
Follow us on:
Instagram: instagram.com/thepatriot_in/
Twitter: twitter.com/Patriot_Delhi
Facebook: facebook.com/Thepatriotnewsindia
