Friday, March 04, 2011 Press Release

Bridging traditions through Dances

India is one of the ancient civilizations; whose vast and deep intellect has yielded many perplexing yet beautiful dance forms. India is the home of one of the oldest yet authoritative treatise on performing arts, the Natya Shastra (2nd Century BC), whose inspiration is seen in all walks of an Indian dancer. Soorya Performing Arts

intends to introduce the authentic performing arts of India to patrons in America. With this objective in mind, Soorya Performing Arts proudly presents St. Louis Indian Dance Festival – 2011, a celebration of Indian Dance intellect. This will be held on April 15, 16 and 17th in St. Louis, Missouri. This festival brings many great dedicated professional artists performing traditional Indian Classical Dance forms such as Bharathanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Sattriya, Kathakali, and Mohini Attam to name a few of the ancient dance styles. Apart

Soorya Performing Arts 268 Arbor Crest Drive • Ballwin, MO - 63021

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info@sooryadance.com • http://www.sooryadance.com

from these classical dances, the festival also presents folk dances of India such as Garbha, Bhangda, Kolata, Dhimsa, Bihu and many more. This dance festival is the brain child of Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, who is a distinguished performer, teacher and choreographer of two Indian Classical Dance styles. He points out, that this festival brings out the basic elements of dance such as Nritta (Pure movement), Nritya (Expressional Movement) and Natya (Dance Dramas), as well as, highly creative, collaborative, ongoing contemporary productions. This year’s St. Louis Indian Dance Festival presents many reputed dance groups and dance gurus. One of the presenters, Natya Dance Theater, has been hailed by The New York Times as, “Triumphant…an enticing mixture of restraint and abundance”, has performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble before an audience of 13,000 in Chicago’s Millennium Park. The other team – Abhinaya Dance Company, received the Bay Area Isadora Duncan Award and has been nominated for 3 different Izzie awards. Very graceful and elegant, Mohini Attam will be presented by experienced Guru Sunanda Nair of Houston, Texas is originally from Kerala State, India; young danseuse Lakshmi Kurup from Newyork also performs Mohini Attam. The Kuchipudi dance style will be presented by Pallavi Prativadi, an artist who was honored by the President of India for her excellence. Guru Roopa Shyamasundara of Bangalore, India, presents her well known production – “DESH”, the story of India. Excellent Bharathanatyam dancers such as Guru Sujatha Srinivasan (Cleveland, OH), Guru Hema Sharma (Kansas, KS) and a Jugalbandhi (Fusion) of Kathak-Bharathanatyam by Lakshmi Shriram & Ashwin Gogate will be other exciting programs of this festival. An added dimension to the festival is the presentations from second generation Indian Americans such as Anjali Tata who will be joining hands with Prof. Patrick Suzeau, a professor of Dance from University of Kansas, to present the collaboration of Indian Classical dance with American Modern Dance. Another team led by Bharathanatyam Dancer – Dr. Prathibha Natesan (PhD), presents American Modern-Bharathanatyam with the members of Dance Department of the University of North Texas. Sreyashi Dey, who is known for her delicacy, dimensionality and a clarity of intention, will present her brilliant Odissi dance, where as MUDRA, the dance team from University of Missouri, Columbia will present Dr. Aditi Bandhopadhyay’s Odissi dance performance. Another highlight of this festival is the participation of mainstream American dancers, who have ventured into Indian dancing such as Kristin Weiser, a ballet dancer, who is learning Indian dances for the past 9 years under Guru Prasanna Kasthuri; Charlotte Moraga of San Francisco, a Kathak genius, a student of veteran master Pandit Chitresh Das; who is known for his collaboration with Tap dances. Soorya Dance Company, headed by Guru Prasanna Kasthuri will be presenting “Ramayana” – a popular Epic of India through its Second Generation Indian American dancers – Sumi Garg, Shalini Subbarao, Annuja Mathivanan and with the guest artist Amudha Pazhanisamy, a student of Guru Ranjani Saigal and Guru Kausalya Srinivisan, of the Sunartaka School of dance based in Chennai, India. Another young Indian American Akshatha Sridhar (Indianapolis, IN) will be representing Kalakshiti Performing Arts, headed by Guru Sunitha Gorur. Folk dance teams such as Nartana , headed by Tejal Patel, presents Garbha Raas; Bhangda by Washington University Bhangda; Janapada headed by Prabhakar Betnag presents Kolata, Bihu, Dhimsa adding to the vibrance, styles and colors of the dance festival. Well known St. Louis Dancer Pallavi Chandak will present Indian folk dances. Guru Prasanna Kasthuri will be presenting his master piece – Reflections – A work based on modern poetry portraying World Peace in two classical Indian dance styles Kathak, Bharathanatyam for a special music composed by famous Indian music composer Hemanth Kumar, Bangalore, India. St. Louis Indian Dance festival is supported by funds received from Missouri Arts Council, a state agency and the Regional Arts Commission. For more details, please visit www.sooryadance.com or email at info@sooryadance.com. Venue: Clayton High School Auditorium #1 Mark Twain Circle, St. Louis, Missouri – 63021 Time / Dates: 6.30 PM on April 15th / 4.00 PM on April 16th / 3:00 PM on April 17th Tickets available: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/160715