Now Kolkata has its own 'dance cafe'

Bringing the concept of dance cafe to Uday Shankar's home city, eminent dance choreographer Sukalyan Bhattacharya today launched a workshop where the aspiring students and professionals and film actors can talk, breath and dream dance.
"While we have had film dance institutes, westerm dance academies and kalakendras where the students can practice the steps of various traditional dance forms, here it will be a merger point with the accent on contemporary Bengali and Indian dance which is rooted yet global. The kind of dance choreographies we are exploring in present day Bengali films and events like Banga Sammelan and Kolkata International Film Festival," the nimble footed dancer, having been part of several critically acclaimed Tollywood projects, told PTI here.

Sukalyan, who regularly performs at Banga Sammelans at US and Canada, said the cafe will have video conferencing facilities where the 'disciples' and the 'masters' can exchange notes with the exponents of other dancing genres in those countries in cafe atmosphere.
"From classical and my signature style of contemporary, from ballet and jazz to yoga it will have an ecletic mix and we aim to churn out professionals to be of use to our entertainment segment by organizing costume, light and theatrical workshops with US and Canada counterparts," he said.
"A Bengali is global embracing different strands of culture which was embodied by our gurus. The Dance studio will help in branding our contemporary dance form internationally."

National award winning actor Indrani Halder, having been part of Sukalyan's dance shows here and abroad, said, "This will help in bridging the void between aspiring young dancers having oodles of talent and performing artistes as well as actors."
"From Indrani Halder to Rituparna Sengupta, from Prosenjit Chatterjee to Firdaus in Bangladesh, everybody from the industry has pledged support," Sukalyan, having choreographed in films including Gurudakshina in Hindi and Hassan Raja (Bengali) and Prosenjit-starrer Porichay, said.