Idan Cohen, noted Israeli dancer-choreographer who endeared himself to India with his performance in Swan Lake, is making an international team dance to his steps in Holi. This is for an international festival of contemporary dance [Interface 2012] to be held in Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore in end-September.
Cohen, who is collaborating with the Kolkata-based Sapphire Creations, blends Indian and Western dance forms — ranging from ballet to classical Indian to everyday gestures and body language of the Western world and even a bit of theatre — to create this composition starring Ran Ben Dror and Noah Shilloh from Israel and Ankita Dutta Gupta and Koushik Das from Sapphire Creations.
‘This is my second year at the festival. The audience for a dance fest in India is huge and varied, unlike in my own country. It is also encouraging that the Government of Israel will host Holi in Tel Aviv next summer,’ the agile dancer-choreographer told Millennium Post. Holi be staged in Delhi at the India Habitat Centre on September 26-27.
Interface 2012 will also see bright, young choreographers from Australia and Taiwan participating for the first time apart from a clutch of new choreographers from India. These include names like Surjit NK, Prasanna Saikia and Aparna Chandarana. Israel and France will be represented too.
‘We launched the festival because we wanted to create a forum for curators from India and abroad to showcase their works. There is hardly any platform in India. Also, there is a great deal of experimental dance happenning in India which we needed to give expression to. Why wait for government backed festivals only?’, asked Sudarshan Chakravorty, Director of Sapphire Creations.
Interface 2012 will be held in Kolkata between September 21 and 25 and in Bengaluru between September 28 to 30. The festival kickstarted in a small way in 2002 but this is the first time that so many international groups are participating.
Interestingly, veteran dancers and choreographers like Geeta Chandran and Aruna Mohanty will also present their fare at Interface 2012 at the Delhi and Kolkata editions, respectively.
Next year, the festival is expected to travel to other cities of India as well. ‘We are also expecting dance teams from Italy, Germany and the US the next time around. The shows will be accompanied by academic discussions, workshops and film screenings on contemporary dance,’ he signed off.
DETAILS
At: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road
When: 26-27 September
Phone: 24682001
Cohen, who is collaborating with the Kolkata-based Sapphire Creations, blends Indian and Western dance forms — ranging from ballet to classical Indian to everyday gestures and body language of the Western world and even a bit of theatre — to create this composition starring Ran Ben Dror and Noah Shilloh from Israel and Ankita Dutta Gupta and Koushik Das from Sapphire Creations.
‘This is my second year at the festival. The audience for a dance fest in India is huge and varied, unlike in my own country. It is also encouraging that the Government of Israel will host Holi in Tel Aviv next summer,’ the agile dancer-choreographer told Millennium Post. Holi be staged in Delhi at the India Habitat Centre on September 26-27.
Interface 2012 will also see bright, young choreographers from Australia and Taiwan participating for the first time apart from a clutch of new choreographers from India. These include names like Surjit NK, Prasanna Saikia and Aparna Chandarana. Israel and France will be represented too.
‘We launched the festival because we wanted to create a forum for curators from India and abroad to showcase their works. There is hardly any platform in India. Also, there is a great deal of experimental dance happenning in India which we needed to give expression to. Why wait for government backed festivals only?’, asked Sudarshan Chakravorty, Director of Sapphire Creations.
Interface 2012 will be held in Kolkata between September 21 and 25 and in Bengaluru between September 28 to 30. The festival kickstarted in a small way in 2002 but this is the first time that so many international groups are participating.
Interestingly, veteran dancers and choreographers like Geeta Chandran and Aruna Mohanty will also present their fare at Interface 2012 at the Delhi and Kolkata editions, respectively.
Next year, the festival is expected to travel to other cities of India as well. ‘We are also expecting dance teams from Italy, Germany and the US the next time around. The shows will be accompanied by academic discussions, workshops and film screenings on contemporary dance,’ he signed off.
DETAILS
At: India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road
When: 26-27 September
Phone: 24682001