Naama Mhane…- Bharatanatyam by Vaibhav Arekar & troupe and NRITYAVYVIDHYAM – a variety of dances – Uday Shankar Style of Dance by Tanusree Shankar Dance Company.
Vaibhav Arekar, one of India’s leading male Bharatanatyam soloists, has trained under virtuoso teachers Saroja Srinath, Thangamani Nagarajan and Dr. Kanak Rele. Arekar has a BFA and MFA from Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya. His collaborative work in the genre of theatre-dance has created milestone productions, like Haravalele Pratibimba, Mata Hidimba, Dwandwa, Shrimant Yogi, Naama Mhane – An Awakening and Trayaanta, which have received critical acclaim and are regarded as model thematic works in Bharatanatyam. His solo work includes Debotar Grash (based on Tagore’s poem) and Narmade Har Hara (in praise of River Narmada), among others. As a soloist, he has performed at prestigious dance festivals around the country. Arekar has been a recipient of Singar Mani by Sur Singar Samsad and Narthaka Nipuna awards. He is the founder of the Sankhya Dance Company, which has performed in Japan, Brazil, Canada, the US, Poland, Russia, Germany, France and Australia. Sankhya is a natural extension of Arekar’s artistic vision to have a company of dancers who engage and invest purely in dance performance.
Naama Mhane…, far from being an episodic enactment of Sant Namdev’s life, portrays his journey from being an individual identity to a philosophical concept. The choreography by Arekar, evolved as a response to the spiritual awakening that affected Sant Naamdev, uses traditional interpretations, abstract narrations and classical motifs. It explores and examines various components of Bharatanatyam in its individual capacity to empower the dancer to lift the self and the spectators to an experiential state called ‘bhakti’.
A dancer of international repute, Tanusree Shankar is the choreographer and the chief inspiration of the dance company that bears her name. She has trained under Amala Shankar and developed a unique choreography based on Uday Shankar’s style of dance. Shankar is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2011 for her contribution towards Creative and Experimental Dance. Her dance company has toured extensively performing at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. She has interacted with various contemporary American and British dance companies and institutions and is always enthused at the prospect of artistic collaborations. She has recently started workshops in Mumbai that teach the Uday Shankar style of dance.
The Tanusree Shankar Dance Company Pvt. Ltd. will present dances based on Uday Shankar’s style of Dance, that are Indian in origin and spirit, modern in presentation and universal and timeless in appeal. Nrityavyvidhyam – a variety of dances, is a collection of short thematic pieces based on the environment, the social milieu, the five senses and others choreographed by Tanusree Shankar.
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