Artistic Structure of the Dance Series:
Each event of the Series will be wrapped in three parts in which it will become fully alive and deeply meaningful. These parts are as follows:
1) MENAKA THAKKAR OPEN HOUSE
Are you interested in learning about the art form, the dance company, the principal artists, the historical and thematic background of the main dance work, etc.
OPEN HOUSE available on your personal devices for FREE all over the world.
2) MAIN DANCE PERFORMANCE (2 hrs): This will be generally live streamed to the privacy of the HOME SPACE of the audience with a link provided to view on their computers or other personal devices through the process of buying a viewing of the show.
3) PROCESS REVEALED: (2 hrs): A Panel Discussion involving invited dance critics and dance historians with the Artistic Director, choreographer, performers and other creators, musicians .etc. PRE-DECIDED QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE TO BE WELCOMED. May require a small ADDITIONAL FEE TO COVER THE COST OF INVITED EXPERTS .
Each event of the Series will be wrapped in three parts in which it will become fully alive and deeply meaningful. These parts are as follows:
1) MENAKA THAKKAR OPEN HOUSE
Are you interested in learning about the art form, the dance company, the principal artists, the historical and thematic background of the main dance work, etc.
OPEN HOUSE available on your personal devices for FREE all over the world.
2) MAIN DANCE PERFORMANCE (2 hrs): This will be generally live streamed to the privacy of the HOME SPACE of the audience with a link provided to view on their computers or other personal devices through the process of buying a viewing of the show.
3) PROCESS REVEALED: (2 hrs): A Panel Discussion involving invited dance critics and dance historians with the Artistic Director, choreographer, performers and other creators, musicians .etc. PRE-DECIDED QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE TO BE WELCOMED. May require a small ADDITIONAL FEE TO COVER THE COST OF INVITED EXPERTS .
FIRST EVENT
Menaka Thakkar presents:
TRINITY OF BHARATNATYAM
Featuring Brilliant World-Renowned Dancers Bhavajan Kumar & Radhe Jaggi and
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company – 10 Dancers performing a group VARNAM in Raga Lathangi
Choreographed by Menaka Thakkar
Date: February 14 to March 30, 2021
Pay-Per-View Home Internet Viewing and Pay-on-Demand Group Viewing
Viewing:
1) $ 12 single person viewing for 48 hours on one device at a time (Click Here for Tickets)
2) $ 48 family pass viewing (up to 6 people) for 48 hours on one device at a time (Click Here for Tickets)
3) $ 6 single person viewing in South Asian countries for 48 hours on one device at a time, which includes the following: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Pakistan and Nepal. (Click Here for Tickets)
4) $ 25 family pass viewing (up to 6 people) for 48 hours on one device at a time, in the above South Asian Countries (Click Here for Tickets)
5) Group viewing: any one actively connected with a dance organization (students, parents, teachers, staff, Board of Directors) if bought collectively by the dance organization itself are eligible for the following discounts:
10-24 people: 15% Discount
25-39 people: 25% Discount
40 or more: 33% Discount
In addition the organization will be publicly acknowledged on all our publicity materials as providing marketing support to the worthy cause. Contact below for additional information.
6) In general, any group of 50 or MORE can contact the organizers for appropriate price for their group which can be discounted down as low as to 50%. Contact below for additional information.
TRINITY OF BHARATNATYAM
Featuring Brilliant World-Renowned Dancers Bhavajan Kumar & Radhe Jaggi and
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company – 10 Dancers performing a group VARNAM in Raga Lathangi
Choreographed by Menaka Thakkar
Date: February 14 to March 30, 2021
Pay-Per-View Home Internet Viewing and Pay-on-Demand Group Viewing
Viewing:
1) $ 12 single person viewing for 48 hours on one device at a time (Click Here for Tickets)
2) $ 48 family pass viewing (up to 6 people) for 48 hours on one device at a time (Click Here for Tickets)
3) $ 6 single person viewing in South Asian countries for 48 hours on one device at a time, which includes the following: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Pakistan and Nepal. (Click Here for Tickets)
4) $ 25 family pass viewing (up to 6 people) for 48 hours on one device at a time, in the above South Asian Countries (Click Here for Tickets)
5) Group viewing: any one actively connected with a dance organization (students, parents, teachers, staff, Board of Directors) if bought collectively by the dance organization itself are eligible for the following discounts:
10-24 people: 15% Discount
25-39 people: 25% Discount
40 or more: 33% Discount
In addition the organization will be publicly acknowledged on all our publicity materials as providing marketing support to the worthy cause. Contact below for additional information.
6) In general, any group of 50 or MORE can contact the organizers for appropriate price for their group which can be discounted down as low as to 50%. Contact below for additional information.
- For further terms, instructions and troubleshooting, Click Here.
For additional information Contact:
menaka@menakathakkardance.org | school@menakathakkardance.org
www.menakathakkardance.org | www.nrtyakala.org
647-215-8620 | 416-854-1879 Cell
menaka@menakathakkardance.org | school@menakathakkardance.org
www.menakathakkardance.org | www.nrtyakala.org
647-215-8620 | 416-854-1879 Cell
For full bios of Bhavajan Kumar and Radhe Jaggi, Click Here.
PRODUCERS’ STATEMENT
MENAKA THAKKAR & RASESH THAKKAR
A QUICK GLANCE AT THE STORY OF MENAKA THAKKAR’S EVOLVING THINKING BEHIND HER NEW INITIATIVE OF THE PROPOSED DANCE PRESENTATION
(1) Gripped by this unprecedented event, COVID 19, we indeed were first bewildered by its ever-tightening grip over every thing we have deeply cherished and held precious in our life. HOWEVER, Now the fear is gone and replaced by a firm calm resolve to face the terror and rebuild the familiar life which largely was built around dance. We want to hold our hand out to the entire dance community and be held by each and every one of them. The common terror has given all of us an adversely ironic sense of connectedness, -- almost a frightening feeling of oneness, as the pandemic moved from one country to another -- that nothing else could ever give us before. The ancient Indian adage seems to re-echo strongly and cynically: VASUDHAIV KUTUMBAKAM: “the whole earth feels like one family”.
(2) We want to share with this family,--- THE WHOLE DANCE COMMUNITY--, all that we have and more, by invoking another , far more positive, powerful and familiar source of connectivity and oneness—the internet, so that they may be able to, not only survive, but flourish in shaping their choreographic ideas and presenting them to their dance loving audiences even in these otherwise terror-striking chilly times of self isolation and fractured human contacts. As you might know, we have acquired in the last few years, the digital technology of “Live and Encore streaming” and adopted the policy of its constant use and improvement in all our dance dissemination work through public presentations and recordings over THE INTERNET. In fact, we are constantly engaged in perfecting, publicizing and popularizing our fledgling annual dance series called “WHIRLING STREAMS”
(3) As an immediate result of organizing our dance dissemination in this mode, we are enabled ,by the use of the internet technology, to transmit our dance concerts , not only to the large far-flung locations of specially designed public places such as a large theatre or a cinema house, but also to small scattered private spaces covered by the same internet connectivity such as an individual household, or an office, or a dance studio or even a mobile individual who carries a smart telephone in his pocket. All these places form what may be called HOME VIEWING SPACE. In the current climate of calls for social distancing, self isolation and working from home in order to counter and contain the full impact of COVID-19, our own technical ability to direct and deliver all performing arts programing directly to viewers at their homes or private places of their choice will provide the most called for alternative to the currently prevailing practice of gathering a large, crushing audience in a fully packed theatre space. Home viewing is the only acceptable solution to sustain, stabilize and further nurture the production of dance works of all genres. The artists can regain the possibility of earning and saving their livelihood without conflicting with the prevailing official policy.
(4) Rising to Resist COVID-19: We start with a Call to all dance artists for cooperation and SUBMISSIONS of their works to participate in our new plan of helping to save the performing arts and the livelihood of artists from the impending terror of COVID- 19. We propose to share with the existing dance community, both, our technology of streaming and our technical team that can then help them in presenting their ticketed dance works before newly created intimate Home-viewing dance audiences seated in their private spaces thus complying with the required distancing.
(5) Changes and adjustments: The works that we invite the dance artists to submit to us for help will inevitably fall into a variety of categories. We are aware that the necessary changes will be many and varied since the dancer’s work will have to be turned into a form that will be stream- able to the homes of the audience members through our technology. The basic dance work with all its lighting cues and music that was primarily created for live dancing on stage will have to be captured on cameras and then edited for projection on screen. This work, when passed through the software of the streaming technology will become the final product sent to various scattered parts of the home viewing audience. We do have alternative packages that will involve the use of one or two or three cameras that will give the final product of different qualities with different cost levels. The basic cost of the stage space where the shooting will take place may not change between packages. These, and many such options will have to be jointly evaluated by us as producers and the original dance artists whom we shall try to present in the best possible light.
(6) Nature of the product that will be FINALLY ready for publicity and marketing to the HOME VIEWING Audience can have the following possible features.
a. Total Camera work of the dance choreography, complete in every aspect of its projection through the use of the internet technology on your home screen such as on your computer or a TV set or even on the tiny screen of your cell telephone. Indeed, the quality of your viewing experience will ultimately depend on the quality of your device.
b. IT will also be possible to organize the operating system so that you will be able to watch the final product ON DEMAND, ANYWHERE AND AT ANYTIME IN THE WORLD THROUGH DIFFERENT TIME ZONES WHERE YOUR DEVICE CAN RUN ON THE INTERNET TECHNOLOGY.
c. ANY and every show, once released on public platform, can remain fully available to audiences for any length of time and space. We generally recommend a period of one to two months depending upon the nature, size and the growth of your international audience. Once it is withdrawn from public availability it will be placed in our library for individual borrowings on full commercial terms for specified periods.
d. The common language of communication where the spoken words are required to further support dance, music and camera work is English at present. Very soon French, Hindi and Tamil may be introduced too.
e. Tickets for admission to the show will be available through internationally operating Ticketing Agency which will be specified with their full identifications (addresses, telephone numbers, email information computer links.) Details of ticketing are given below.
(7) PRICE STRUCTURE AND TICKETING:
It should be clear to the reader by now that the entire show in this mode of dance dissemination will be offered to the audience in no specific public space such as a theatre, cinema house or even a studio. It should be viewed in a private space such as a home, office or on a device carried on the person of the viewer such as a smart telephone, etc. In all other respects, our publicly articulated goal on pricing is that it should be truly affordable for everyone to be touched by a deep experience of art in life. On the other hand, it should be large enough to generate enough box office revenue to cover all our costs, which in some areas will have to be covered, realistically and inevitably, by sponsorships, donations and grants. It will be appreciated that in this difficult balancing act, we have brought down the single ticket price from hovering between $mid 30s and $mid 50s for live dancing on stage to hovering between $12and $8 for digital programming of dance by the use of the technology of internet streaming which will enable us to bring the show right into the home -viewing space of our audiences -- private homes, offices, small dance studios, even an individual who may be carrying a smart phone on his/her person. It will be at once clear that by the very nature of its organization in the small available space, the audience remains scattered and split into small groups of no more than 6-8 persons of closely connected family and friends, thus complying with the requirement of social distancing which is so fundamental and mandatory in the climate of COVID- 19. The show will be provided to the viewers on their home or office computers or smaller personal devices, tablets, lap tops and such other devices that will carry the image and sound to the audiences. Of course, these devices will be most conveniently connected to their Laptops, iPad, Cell Phones, Smart TV sets or whatever other convenient ways in which the audiences will want to organize themselves.
IMPORTANT GENERAL ALERT AND REQUEST FOR DONATIONS or family pass
One important alert that I must evoke at this point concerns the situation of Home viewing where a group of family members along with equally intimate friends may gather in right numbers as per the COVID-19 related regulations. Since only one valid ticket is required to awaken the link and enable the computer to transmit the full view of the show on the screen for viewing by everyone gathered in the group, a sense of monitoring and balancing the number of tickets with the number of viewership may be easily forgotten and lost in a very natural and unmotivated moment. We therefore recommend that while buying the tickets, a certain amount of extra donations may be offered by pressing the button for donations while buying your tickets. A still better solution for this situation is to buy the ticket designated as FAMILY PASS costing $48 to serve for the entire assembled group of viewership. This will offer a thoughtfully balanced estimate of the group’s responsibility—neither overly more nor less. Use of this ticket will also enable you to request for more links to connect additional devices such as lap top computers etc. if you have any.
CLICK ON "DONATE NOW" link to make your donation.
We thank you for your support!
HELP US MAKE CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE ACCESSIBLE AND AFFORDABLE IN CANADA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY MAKING A DONATION TO OUR LIVE STREAMED PROGRAMMING FOR ONE OF OUR INDIAN DANCE ORGANIZATIONS
MAKE A DONATION TO MENAKA THAKKAR DANCE COMPANY OF CANADA
OUR SCHOOL NRTYAKALA INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE
AND RECEIVE A CHARITABLE TAX RECEIPT.
We thank you for your support!
HELP US MAKE CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE ACCESSIBLE AND AFFORDABLE IN CANADA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY MAKING A DONATION TO OUR LIVE STREAMED PROGRAMMING FOR ONE OF OUR INDIAN DANCE ORGANIZATIONS
MAKE A DONATION TO MENAKA THAKKAR DANCE COMPANY OF CANADA
OUR SCHOOL NRTYAKALA INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE
AND RECEIVE A CHARITABLE TAX RECEIPT.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is known as Canada’s Premier Indian Dance Company not only because it was the first professional Indian dance company to receive funding from the Canada Council but also because of its reputation for excellence in dance exhibited in the quality of dancing and the groundbreaking choreographic work of Menaka Thakkar.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is well-known internationally and across Canada and in Toronto through annual touring nationally and an annual home seasons. In 2012-2013, Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar was honoured with the two major Canadian awards given to an artist in dance - The Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Arts and the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is the only Canadian company with a large ensemble of home-grown dancers who are graduates of our school. Our company dancers are skilled in many different Indian dance and western dance styles.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is well-known internationally and across Canada and in Toronto through annual touring nationally and an annual home seasons. In 2012-2013, Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar was honoured with the two major Canadian awards given to an artist in dance - The Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Arts and the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is the only Canadian company with a large ensemble of home-grown dancers who are graduates of our school. Our company dancers are skilled in many different Indian dance and western dance styles.
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How the LIVESTREAM project came to be:
When Dr. Menaka Thakkar accepted her GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AWARD FOR LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE in 2013, she pledged to continue to make her art ever more accessible and affordable by streaming live or encore performances over the internet to multiple distant locations nationally and internationally. Thanks to an Ontario Trillium Grant her vision has become reality. Our new technology can now deliver ground-breaking choreographic works, workshops, artist talks and performances not only to large urban centres, but also to small towns, culturally underserved areas and local neighbourhoods through a chain of appropriately equipped venues including theatres, film centres, public libraries, community centres, universities and colleges. Alternatively we can also bring our events right into the comfort and privacy of one’s own home through laptop computers, tablets and other mobile devices. In addition, internet streaming makes it possible to deliver these works of high art at far lower prices than their primary stage productions just as live streamed shows from the Metropolitan Opera or The National Theatre have done in movie houses. Click here to link to all Menaka Thakkar's awards and honours. |
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company give thanks to our supporters:
