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India Today
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Dancing magic with the five elements
What happens when stars of the dance world meet and create magic? The world dances. As it happened this week at India Habitat Centre (IHC), Delhi. It was the only mega dance event on the actual date declared as the International Day for Dance by the United Nations—the others were all before or after, not on April excuse is good to dance and Delhi, being the capital city, had five events going around the occasion: Utsav Cultural Society was first from April 20, then Kiran Nadar Museum's Aditi Mangaldas show on the 24th, followed by Natyavriksha on 26th and 27th, and then Vaishali Kala Kendra's celebration of her guru Durgacharan Ranbir getting the Padmashri award this year, and finally India Habitat Centre's over-full and flowing World Dance Day, where the best of the culturatti couldn't get in if they were not early enough to catch a seat. Extra screens had to be put up in the basement halls when Stein, whose balcony rarely gets filled, was full within minutes of the gates Bangalore International Centre (BIC) in Bengaluru had Mrinal Prabhu presenting her flock and Gururaj dancing his Kuchipudi. Baroda, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chandigarh, too, mounted their own events, as did the Chennai sabhas and Kerala makes a show draw thousands of people when classical dance shows generally struggle to get even a hundred or two into a hall? Content. Concept. Context. Research, recognition and reputation. The IHC consulted yours truly once again for content, as it has often done in the past. This is how Panchatatva was born. The five elements—air, water, earth, fire and ether—were represented collectively and also individually. For instance, air was embodied by an upcoming star of Kuchipudi, Washim Raja, whose Gajendra Moksha was most evocative and touching. He floats like air and flies! Shobana, the superstar of South, and recently Padma Bhushan-ed, represented Bharatanatyam and her Shankarabharam varnam was so finely etched that it took the viewer almost inside a South Indian temple complex. No starry tempers or demands, she came like anyone else, availed common facilities and even joined the group impromptu in the end doing Vande Mataram, as an ode to the civilians killed in Not just these two forms but all five—including Kathak by Anuj Neha Mishra of Lucknow who represented fire with their red costumes bringing Shiva and Shakti live, modern dance by Vishwakiran Nambi, who representing ether doing Yella Oottu on food, and earthen Odissi by Rahul Varshney showing Ashtashambhu—added to the occasion, with yours truly giving apt historical perspective laced with humour, culminating in an impromptu 'lungi dance' , when all the panchtatvas came together in Vande Mataram. The audience, too, joined in, such was the pull and energy of the magical evening, energised by the best Indian dance has to the audience were many gurus, stars, students and others from all age groups. There was also the entitled Delhi lot that could not get in the hall—coming fashionably late didn't help this once! Sandip Mullick's lights were superb. IHC engaged the best and pulled out all stops to help the grand event become grander. Those who missed it can catch the magic and relive it on IHC's dedicated social outreach channels, including on Rahul Sharma and Sonali Sharma conducted the proceedings with aplomb, which had the Unesco head for South Asia based in Delhi, Tim Curtis, release the mock cover of the silver jubilee edition of AttenDance on Indian dance in France guest. Edited by Sonya Wynne Singh based in Montpellier, France, the edition will be launched in Paris later by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Unesco and possibly the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) with the Indian embassy. The World Dance Day, after all, is in honour of the French ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810).Aman Nath of the Neemrana group provided gravitas and class, while Delhi's much-loved guru Vanashree Rao lit the lamp with other panchbhutams. This was also the first event at IHC attended by its new director K.G. Suresh, who had just taken charge. It was providential because he is also the great grandson of veteran Kathakali guru vidwan Shankaran Namboodripad, who taught the dance form at the Uday Shankar Almora Studio in the 1940s. Vidyun Singh, the creative head of IHC and her A team comprising Shadaab, Naresh, Wasif and Sushma managed all the logistics days ahead and after. The World Dance Day was celebrated as a grand event by one institution in India, in a befitting manner that had a huge ripple effect with dancers from all over India already asking what's the chance they can dance next to India Today MagazineMust Watch
Hindustan Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
HT City Delhi Junction: Catch It Live on 24 April 2025
A post shared by Aditi Mangaldas (@aditimangaldas) What: Within – A Kathak Dance Production ft Aditi Mangaldas Where: Kamani Auditorium, 1 Copernicus Marg, Mandi House When: April 24 Timing: 7pm Entry: Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House (Blue & Violet Lines) What: A Place called Home: Stories by Susham Bedi Where: Conference Room I, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg When: April 24 Timing: 6pm Entry: Free Nearest Metro Station: Jor Bagh (Yellow Line) A post shared by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (@knmaindia) What: Caravaggio's Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy Where: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), 145, South Court Mall, Saket When: April 18 to May 18 Timing: 10.30am to 6.30pm Entry: Nearest Metro Station: Saket (Yellow Line) What: Mausam Aate Jaate Hain Where: LTG Auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg, Mandi House When: April 24 Timing: 7.15pm Entry: Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House (Blue & Violet Lines) A post shared by Ravi Gupta (@shudhdesicomic) What: Kal Ki Chinta Nahi Karta ft Ravi Gupta Where: Studio XO Bar, Trillium Avenue, Sector 29, Gurugram When: April 24 When: 7pm Entry: Nearest Metro Station: Millennium City Centre Gurugram (Yellow Line)
Hindustan Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Restaging ‘WITHIN' reminds us we don't learn from history: Kathak doyenne Aditi Mangaldas
New Delhi, Kathak exponent Aditi Mangaldas, who is known for confronting present-day social concerns in her choreography, feels that humans never learn from history as terror and violence have become increasingly more acceptable. Organised by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts under its performance art vertical, Mangaldas' dance production 'WITHIN' will be staged at Kamani Auditorium on Thursday. The production, first premiered in 2013 in Delhi, confronts themes of violence, ignorance, and turmoil while seeking solace in kindness, compassion, and humanity. "Looking back today, has anything changed at all? As human beings, we are still struggling constantly with the binary within us. The binary of brutality and humanity; femininity and masculinity; the good and the bad," she told PTI. "WITHIN", which was last staged in Delhi in 2018, explores the inner landscape of human experience, where contrasting forces such as humanity and brutality, masculinity and femininity, good and evil, intertwine to create a delicate balance. "Today, when I have re-staged 'WITHIN', after so many years - it comes as a painful reminder that we never learn from history, do we? In fact, at times, it seems that we are moving backwards! Exclusivity, terror, violence, become more and more acceptable - and inclusivity, humanity, compassion and empathy are so rare to find," the 65-year-old said. Presented by repertory members of the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company and the Drishtikon Dance Foundation, the production has been staged globally in Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, Russia, Georgia, Singapore, and Romania. A disciple of Kathak stalwarts like Kumudini Lakhia and Pandit Birju Maharaj, Mangaldas has broken new ground by using her knowledge and experience of Kathak as a springboard to evolve a contemporary dance vocabulary, infused with the spirit of the classical. In the nearly dozen years since its inception, the production's form both skeletal and muscular and the structure of its intention has remained the same even as Mangaldas constantly revisits her work to keep it relevant. "One has to be open to adaptation and the current influences, and constantly revisit the work to ensure it remains relevant. Certain things remain the same, and yet there are minor changes which make all the difference in the overall essence of a work. I firmly believe that dance must always be breathing and be relevant to the now,' she said. Inspired by philosophical musings of J Krishnamurti, the mystic-poet Kabir, and Sufi poet Hazrat Shah Niaz, the programme has been structured in two parts - "Knotted" and "Unwrapped" - offering a dual perspective on Kathak. While "Knotted" is in the genre of contemporary dance based on Kathak, "Unwrapped" is a return to the classical essence of Kathak. "'Knotted' is the first half of the evening and explores the struggle of brutality and humanity within each of us. It is dark and disturbing and the intention is to leave the audience unsettled during the intermission where they may question or at least glance within and observe this half embrace of the binaries within themselves," Mangaldas said. The second half in classical Kathak centres around the query - "Is there another way to discover humanity, the eternity within us?" "The work ends with a joyous celebration of life where, if one's within is full of humanity, one reflects that all around. The metaphor is the eternal space of the Siddha sculpture and a mirror which helps you understand who you are,' she said. The event is curated by Aditi Jaitly Jadeja, senior curator - performing arts at KNMA. "At KNMA, we remain committed to fostering accessibility to world-class artistic experiences. WITHIN is an internationally celebrated production that exemplifies the intersection of tradition and innovation in contemporary performance," she said.
