The Capital will once again play host to Indradhanush Dilli, a three-day festival of Arts. Being held from tomorrow Nov 11, at multiple cultural venues like Triveni, Delhi Tamil Sangam and ICCR the fest includes solo, duet and group performances by artists between the age group of 18 and 35 years, practicing Indian classical dances, folk dances and contemporary dance forms, from all across the country.
Highlights of the festival this year include Bhratanatyam performance by Sridevi Nrithyalaya of Chennai, Kathak by Kadam Parikh & Raina Parikh, Mohiniattam by disciples of Guru Bharti Shivaji, Tyagaraja Keerthanam in Bharatanatyam by disciples of Guru Kanaka Sudhakar and contemporary dance by Meghna Bhardwaj and Sanchita Sharma.
Noted exponents Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ranjana Gauhar and Kanaka Srinivasan will be honoured with Guru Samman for their contributions to the field of performing arts this year. Salaudddin Pasha, who runs the world’s first and only dance troupe for disabled artists, will be awarded Paras Mani Award.
Seminars and Workshops will be held by exponents in field of Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Mohiniattam, Semi-classical, Contemporary, Bollywood, Folk, Classical Music, Light music, Mono act Drama, One act Drama, Painting and many more, along with special focus on cultural formation, women empowerment, awareness creation, and holistic development of learner.
The ‘Arts for All’ workshops will be undertaken by noted exponents in different fields of performing arts, including Kanaka Sudhakar, Nalini, Swagata Sen Pillai, Syed S Pasha and Shreyasi Gopinath.
Indian Classical dances are ancient yogic movement systems and it takes several years of immense tutelage, dedication and discipline for a student to master such an art form. These dance forms are our treasures and their knowledge is not only aesthetic and entertaining but also yogic and medicinal due to the therapeutic benefits a classical dancer gets by learning and practicing these art forms while Indian folk dances are the spirit of India. They represent the culture, tradition and the unique flavour of every state. Unlike classical dances, folk dance is the expression of the entire community and each folk dance represent the joy of the people on various occasions like harvest, monsoons, and festivals like Diwali and Holi etc.
“The journey of Indradhanush Dilli has been quiet exciting, and rewarding as well. The learning process has been great and the experience of watching the immense talent of India has been greater,” says a spokesperson of NGO Sunaina that is organizing the festival in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture to promote young artists who have dedicated their lives to arts.
“In line with our aim is to spread Indian classical arts to the grassroots level, besides performances we will also have seminars and workshops on cultural art forms wherein discussions will be held on the importance of learning these art forms for spiritual, aesthetic and therapeutic advantages,” she says.
Those who have been a part of this festival earlier include kuchipudi exponent Prateeksha Kathi, Bharatanatyam exponents Pavitra Beat and Tanya Sarena, Kathakali exponent Prabal Gupta and Kathak exponents Amit Khinchi and Shubhi Johari .
