Dance fiesta

To celebrate the occasion of World Dance Day, Ministry of Culture and the India International Centre in association with Oil India, NTPC and IndianOil, is coming up with a two-day programme in the national Capital.

Beginning from April 30, the programme will be held in the main auditorium, India International Centre. Day one of the programme will have public demonstration of Bharatanatyam at a class conducted by Geeta Chandran. In the evening, there will be discussion where dancer Geeta Chandran will exchange dialogues with Padma Vibhushan Dr Yamini Krishnamurthi. It will be followed by an interactive presentation of Bharatanatyam by Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh.

Day two will have a movement workshop titled- ‘Muscle Memory’ by Dr Anita Ratnam, which will be open to all dance styles. In the evening, a tribute to Padma Bhushan (the late) Kalanidhi Narayanan, will be held where speakers/performers such as Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, Guru Jamuna Krishnan, Rasika Khanna and (Padma Shri) Pratibha Prahlad will participate. It will be followed by Bharatanatyam performance by Dr Vasudevan Iyengar and Kathak performance by Sanjukta Sinha.

For over a decade, Geeta Chandran’s Natya Vriksha celebrates this occasion every year. Each year’s celebrations are planned differently and this year too, a heady mix awaits audiences. April 29 is International Dance Day also known as World Dance Day, it was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute. The date was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, a French dancer and ballet master and a great reformer of dance.