PERFORMING ARTS:
Traditions Engaged: Chhandam's Dance Fest
The Chitresh Das Dance Company and Chhandam School marked their 30th anniversary with an international festival of classical Indian dance. A Siliconeer report.
(Above): Chitresh Das Dance Company performers Charlotte Moraga (standing left) and Rachna Nivas (ground right)during a performance of Sita Haran Oct. 2 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. [Photo: MARGO MORITZ]
In celebration of their 30th anniversary the Chitresh Das Dance Company and Chhandam School, in partnership with sister organization Chhandam Nritya Bharati in India, presented an international festival of classical Indian dance and music held over the first two weekends in October at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater in Los Angeles.
Featuring performances by V.P. and Shanta Dhananjayan, Chitresh Das, Swapan Chaudhuri, Rajendra Gangani, Sadanam Harikumaran, Darshana Jhaveri, Ratikant Mohapatra, and Mahua Mukherjee, the festival brought together a who’s who of Indian classical dance.
The event, entitled “Traditions Engaged: Dance, Drama, Rhythm,” brought together artists, students, funders, presenters, and audiences from around the world to explore the role and relevance of India’s traditional classical dance and music forms today. This event was built on the success of CDDC’s 2006 international festival and symposium, “Kathak at the Crossroads.” Through performances, lectures, panel discussions, and demonstrations, “Traditions Engaged” enlarged the focus of conversation to embrace the wide panoply of Indian classical music and dance traditions.
“One of the principal aims of this festival is to showcase the great diversity and depth of Indian classical dance and music in a way that gives new perspectives on these traditions,” says Chitresh Das. “Though, the festival also aims to provide a forum for discussing the function of traditional arts within contemporary and cosmopolitan settings. For some ‘tradition’ is a liability,” adds Das. “The word can conjure up images of things stale, static, backward, or perhaps merely foreign and exotic. These characterizations, however, obscure tradition’s enduring if sometimes mysterious beauty and its timeless body of knowledge-be it technical, historical, or spiritual.”
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