Renowned Dancer Anita Ratnam To Host A Live Session On How To Bring Innovation In Dance On A Digital Platform

Jyothi Venkatesh

India’s premier cultural institution, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in collaboration with renowned dancer, and cultural entrepreneur Dr. Anita Ratnam will be hosting a live workshop on ‘Innovation, ideas and experimentation in artistic pursuit’. The session is a part of the ongoing Utkarsh Series by NCPA.  Considering the new normal with no on-stage performances, the live session will have Dr. Anita address how innovation, when adapted digitally, can beautifully transcend all boundaries and barriers associated with dance as a genre.

As a founder of Natharki.com, Ratnam noticed that many dancers were taking to Instagram while performing from their living rooms. Taking this opportunity ahead, this session is curated to address out of the box ideas for performers to think beyond a structured framework and push boundaries of dance & choreography.The live workshop will give the audience an understanding of the production value that can be imperative when a dancer is planning to create content for a digital audience. This session is designed to elevate the digital medium in helping content creators promote themselves to audiences in the new normal.

 With a career spanning more than 4 decades and with numerous performances all over the globe,  Dr.Anita Ratnam is one of India’s most recognized dance icons. She trained in Bharatanatyam under Gurus Rajee Narayan and Adyar K Lakshman (1969 - 1978), further strengthening her dance vocabulary with a post graduate diploma at Kalakshetra, Chennai (1974 – 1976), under S Sarada and Sarada Hoffman. Trained also in the Kerala dance-theatre traditions of Mohiniattam under Guru Chinna Ammu Ammal and Kathakali under Guru Balasubramaniam Warier (1968 – 1978), Anita as a performer and choreographer, embraces both the traditional and contemporary streams of Indian dance to extend the frontiers of her art. She has even evolved her own style that she calls Neo-Bharatam.

With a Master’s in Theatre and Television from the University of New Orleans, USA (1977 – 1979), she enjoyed a successful ten year tenure from 1981- 1990 as an award winning television producer in New York. Returning to India, she created Arangham Trust (1992), a performing arts foundation in her hometown of Chennai. Anita Ratnam is the Artistic Director of Arangham Dance Theatre, and an active board member in some dance companies. She is known for her innovative choreography and many of her productions, solo and group, have left a lasting mark in the dance field. Ratnam is a recipient of the Senior Fellowship from the Department of Culture, Government of India. Firmly rooted in the traditional perimeters of Indian dance and theatre, Ratnam remains open to international perspectives and trans-cultural collaborations with sculptors, painters, writers, directors, poets and musicians.

As a cultural entrepreneur, Ratnam launched NARTHAKI.COM, the celebrated Indian dance portal, in April 2000 after two successful print editions of the path breaking ‘Narthaki: A Directory of Classical Indian Dance’ in 1992 and 1997.  Since it went online, narthaki.com has become an essential networking tool and the go-to website for the dance community. https://narthaki.com/aboutus.html.Swapnokalpa Dasgupta is a highly dedicated Odissi dancer, teacher, arts manager and curator who has been the Head of Dance Programming at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, NCPA in Mumbai for the past 7 years along with actively pursuing Odissi dance.She has completed a postgraduate level management degree course, M.A in Arts and Heritage Management from the London Metropolitan University, London, UK and has received the prestigious Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman, 2019 in Odissi dance and the prestigious Kanak Nartan Puraskar 2020 from Dr. Kanak Rele’s Nalanda Nrityakala Mahavidyalaya.She has learnt Odissi under Padma Vibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She started her journey in Odissi dance with the affectionate guidance of Guru Giridhari Nayak. She has also received rigorous training from Guru Poushali Mukherjee in Kolkata and Guru Sujata Mohapatra and Guru Ratikant Mohapatra in Orissa.

Swapnokalpa has her dance school SWAPNOKALPA in Mumbai and Kolkata. She is credited for being the first Odissi teacher of the prestigious The Bhavans, London who was able to set up an Odissi dance department at the centre. The department flourished in the heart of London. Swapnokalpa continues to impart training at the London centre as a visiting faculty and had conducted the first ever Summer school for Odissi dance at the Centre in 2019.Awarded the prestigious All India National Scholarship (Senior) for Odissi dance by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in 2001 (received this at the age of 18; one of the youngest dancers in India to have received this award).Currently in the panel of artists selected by the national television network of India, Doordarshan for dance and other cultural programs organized by the network.Currently in the panel of artists selected by the national television network of India, Doordarshan for dance and other cultural programs organized by the network.

https://www.ncpamumbai.com/management/

https://www.ncpamumbai.com/management/

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