Event Details

Chiro Sakha…The Divine in Me
An Odissi dance offering
by Arnab Bandyopadhaya & Darpani 
and
Rajendranandini – The Warrior Princess
based on Tagore’s poem & dance drama Chitrangada
by Shahana, Tagore Centre for Indian Music & Culture

The NCPA will host an evening of dance performances celebrating the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in his birthday month. The evening will showcase thematic works by Arnab Bandyopadhyay with his troupe and Shahana, Tagore Centre for Indian Music & Culture.

Arnab Bandyopadhaya, is an aficionado of Indian Classical and Contemporary dance. He is one of the few dancers who has simultaneously trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi. He started his training in Odissi under Smt. Sutapa Talukdar and later under Padmavibhushan Guru Sri Kelucharan Mohapatra and his son, Ratikanta Mohapatra. Arnab is a postgraduate in Bengali literature with a first class diploma in journalism and the Director of Darpani. He is an ‘A’ grade artist of Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre in Bharatnatyam and Odissi, a graded artiste (Odissi) of Doordarshan and along with his team Darpani, has been empanelled by the ICCR. He has been honoured with prestigious awards including the Sangeet Vibhakar, and Sangeet Ratna by the Bangiya Sangeet Parisad.

‘Chiro Sakha…The Divine in Me’ is an artist’s quest for relevance in difficult times. An artist often tries to explore multiple avenues to express the anxieties that haunt the parched soul in moments of despair. Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetanjali is a source of inspiration that offers a catalogue of human experiences across time, space and gender. Chiro Sakha is Darpani’s humble tribute to that quest for relevance-a celebration of life with an endless hope to achieve the divine in us in such moments of anxieties.

Shahana was established in 1975 in Mumbai to present the philosophy of Tagore to a wider audience across languages, age-groups and formats & platforms. Over the years Shahana has performed and interpreted all of Tagore’s dance dramas and a number of his plays in addition to composite thematic programs. Shahana has developed a reputation of innovation and quality in both its interpretations as well as its performances, delivering Tagore’s message for its audiences in a modern format. Today Shahana is not just a school but a Centre, whose goal is the spread of Tagore’s universal philosophy through the various performance arts.

Shahana presents ‘Rajendranandini – The Warrior Princess’, a dance drama based on Tagore’s play Chitrangada and his poem of the same name. The play, based on the Manipur princess Chitrangada’s relationship with the Pandava prince Arjun, highlights the importance of being true to oneself, in spite of all temptations.

Box Office: 9th April for Members and 12th April for Public.