Festival to revive primitive Indian dance forms

With an aim to devise multiple ways of exploring and experiencing dance vocabulary of the Indian subcontinent, a three-day festival will feature conferences, discussions as well as ancient and little known dance forms here.
'Natya Ballet Dance Festival'- an initiative of Natya Ballet Centre and Sangeet Natak Akademi will be showcasing established artists presenting primitive dance forms.
'Ottanthullal' from Kerala, the 'Tibetan Opera' from the 'Tibetan Mainland' and 'Gotipua and Seraikella Chhau' from the Eastern parts of India will serve as highlights of the event.
The festival will begin with centre's own production 'Nirvana', an Odissi ballet based on the life of Gautam Buddha that touches upon the Buddha's philosophy while encapsulating his journey from birth to enlightenment.

The dance drama with English dialogues has been choreographed by Odissi exponents Guru Aniruddha Das and Nibedita Mohapatra.
Kathak dancer and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas, who works with the traditional repertoire of Kathak debuts with 'Widening Circles', a solo performance based on the Buddhist principle of 'Pratityasamutpada' that explores the concept of cause and effect.

Based on the poetry of Bullehshah, Indian contemporary dancer, Astad Deboo will present 'Eternal Embrace' on the final evening of the festival.
In it's first edition, the festival will host a 2-day conference- 'Dance Discourses' led by eminent practitioners, dance critics and academicians like Lubna Marium, Ashish Khokar, Sadanand Menon, Anita Ratnam, Gowri Ramnarayan among others.

Rendering five lecture demonstrations and four talks, the discourses aim to reflect on the changing landscapes of dance in the Indian subcontinent pre and post independence.
An exhibition of photographs by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Archive, featuring landmarks in the history of Indian dance will serves as limelight of the festival.
"With this festival, we are hoping to initiate a step towards better understanding of our traditional dance practices; furthermore reflecting on the evolution of dance over the past century.
"Conceptualised with the vision to build a wider audience for classical and traditional dances of the subcontinent, dance enthusiasts and lovers have much to experience," Radhika Hoon, Chairperson and Nikita Maheshwary, Creative Director of Natya Ballet Centre said.

The festival which beings from December 1 and will culminate on December 3 at Sangeet Natak Akademi here.