The Indian Embassy is presenting the Sapphire Creations Dance Company, a contemporary Indian dance group that uses avant garde dance to raise awareness about several sociopolitical issues, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, gender disparity, consumerism and global warming.

The group will perform on Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Gandhi Memorial Intercontinental School auditorium in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

According to Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Centre director Makrand Shukla, the troupe’s upcoming performance in Jakarta is part of the embassy’s program, which sends the group on a nationwide tour sponsored by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

The troupe works under the direction of artistic director and choreographer Sudarshan Chakravorty and co-director Paramita Saha. The group has performed in India and abroad in more than 20 countries across five continents, including Malaysia, Spain, Israel, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Austria, Germany, Thailand, Italy, Bangladesh, Canada, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Poland and the United States.

Chakravorty wrote in his bio that, in India, the troupe was a pioneer of a dynamic experimental dance form that centered on individual and ensemble mind-body improvizations.

“The troupe’s work explores sociopolitical issues through a global perspective while still embodying the South Asian sensitivity with an experimental body movement stylistic. Our movement techniques imbibe from ancient Indian body history to relevant Western breathing techniques to modern contact, improvisatory methods for both solo and group movements,” Chakravorty explained.

He added that the troupe incorporated eclectic artistic expressions, in which dance blended seamlessly with visual arts installations and multimedia presentations, combining film and fashion together with dance while promising the Jakarta audience an unusual form of aesthetic social criticism.

The troupe is also involved with the Link the Arts initiative in India, which attempts to form partnerships with university and art school students.

Chakravorty derives his eclectic choreography inspiration from the many dance forms he has studied across so many different cultures.

He is trained in three traditional Indian dance forms: bharatnatyam, kathakali and thang-ta. Later, he also studied modern dance, including jazz dance under French dancer Nana Gleason. He also learned about mind-body centering from Germany’s Christopher Lechner as well as various forms of contemporary dance from Swiss-French choreographer Michel Casanovas.

He has also explored many different art forms as well. He directed a stage play called Interface and acted in several stage plays and films directed by established Bengali theater and film directors.

Saha, meanwhile, is a contemporary dancer and arts manager working in Kolkata. She has shared many international mentors with Chakravorty, including France’s Gleason, Germany’s Lechner, as well as the United States’ Alexandra Beller and the United Kingdom’s Janet Kaylo and Laurence Higgens.

With her eclectic source of influences, Saha blends her vision with Chakravorty to create mind-blowing choreography.

Since 2002, she has also been working as an arts manager, designing strategic partnerships between businesses and artists to create a funding scheme to nurture the creative industries and their contribution to the community.

“I feel that the arts can impact people deeply […] while conveying messages for social change for the present generation,” she said, explaining her choreography’s heavy sociopolitical context. She is a 2016 ArtThinkSouthAsia fellow and a 2018 global fellow of the International Society of Performing Arts. She is also the recipient of the 2007 Bharat Nirman Award for Dance.

Popular

Government to permanently relocate 10,000 people after Ruang eruptions

Kokubo's injury time penalty save secures title for Japan

Residents fear for safety as Mount Ruang volcano erupts