Indian National Day :

Dance performance to mark Indian National Day

A contemporary dance performance by a renowned danseuse Aditi Mangaldas and her dance company will be held on January 25 at Bishops's College auditorium, Colombo at 6.30 p.m. to mark the 63rd Republic Day of India. Indian Cultural Centre, which is the cultural arm of the High Commission of India, Colombo is organizing the performance.

Aditi in a powerful dance pose

Patali Champika Ranawaka, Minister for Power and Energy will be the Chief Guest and Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India will preside over the function.

In addition to Colombo, the troupe will be performing in Galle, Kandy and Jaffna.

The performance at Galle which is being sponsored by Indian Cultural Centre will be on January 21 at the Hall de Galle, in conjunction with the Galle Literary Festival.

On January 23, the troupe will perform at the Hindu Cultural Hall, Kandy.

This event will be organized by the Assistant High Commissioner's office in Kandy. On January 28, there will be performance at Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna. It will be organized by Consul General of India in Jaffna.

A dancer par excellence, Aditi started dancing with Kumudini Lakhia, one of the pioneers of contemporary innovations based on Kathak and among India's leading choreographers. Never satisfied with the technique or kinetics of dance, Aditi explored the space around her with high virility and energy.

She has broken a new ground in contemporary dancing by using her knowledge and experience of Kathak as a springboard to evolve a contemporary dance vocabulary infused with the spirit of the classical.

Aditi also studied under Pt Birju Maharaj, the scion of the traditional Kathak family and India's greatest Kathak maestro.

The Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company aims at achieving excellence and virtuosity in the rich classical Indian dance form of Kathak, as well as encourage the spirit of innovation.

In doing so it seems to challenge the established norms and develop the courage to dance according to our times with a serious concern for heritage, cultures, influences and language of other dance styles and forms, viewpoints and ideas.

In their 90 minute-long performance, the Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company will present five dance concepts with effects of lights, music, percussion and choreography.

In her productions, Aditi Mangaldas profusely uses the Hindustani stream of music, poetry, philosophy and various kinds of designs.

Mohit Gangani on Tabla, Ashish Gangani on Pakhwaj and the vocalist Faraz Ahmad, are her accompanying artistes for all the performances.

The light designs will be done by Narayan Singh Chauhan. The dancers are Dheerendra Tiwari, Dheerendra Tiwari, Piyush Chauhan, Amit Khinchi, Preeti Sharma, Mansi Saxena, Rohit Parihar, Karan Gangani and Aditi Mangaldas. For invitations for the performances, readers may contact the Indian Cultural Centre, No.16/2, Gregory's Road, Colombo - 7, 8 or email: [email protected]