Welcome to Menaka Thakkar Dance |
|
|
CONGRATULATIONS! Dr. Menaka Thakkar
Winner of the Markham Performing Arts Award The Markham Performing Arts Awards (MPAA), established in 2015 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Flato Markham Theatre, celebrates the outstanding contributions made by organizations and individuals who have helped shape the theatre and advocate or Live Arts in Markham. Each year, the Flato Markham Theatre Advisory Board adjudicates the MMPA’s in categories commissioned to reflect these accomplishments and to recognize numerous supporters and valued partners, without whom the theatre’s success would not be possible. The awards are designed by a different local artist each year and are presented at the Annual Flato Markham Theatre Discovery Gala. For 2017, the categories included Professional Artist of the Year, Community Group of the Year & Community Partner of the Year and the awards, designed by Ron Leach. |
|
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 THREE INDIAN DANCE ORGANIZATIONS
MAKE A DONATION TO MENAKA THAKKAR DANCE ,
OUR SCHOOL NRTYAKALA INDIAN DANCE,
OR OUR PRESENTING COMPANY
KALANIDHI FINE ARTS OF CANADA,
AND RECEIVE A CHARITABLE TAX RECEIPT.
CLICK ON "DONATE NOW" link to make your donation.
We thank you for your support!
About Our CharityThe 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.
|
Canada's Premiere Indian Dance Company Presents Live-Streaming of
"IN THE FURTHER SOIL" Available to Presenters "In the Further Soil” illustrates the journey that MENAKA THAKKAR has forged in founding the first professional school of Indian dance in Canada as well as forming the first professional Indian dance performance company which became the first culturally diverse dance organization to receive funding from Canada Council for the Arts. The title of this production comes from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore in which he speaks of the Banyan Tree that not only grows in its own soil but reaches its roots to the further soil which is an apt metaphor for the growth of Indian dance in Canada through the activities of Ms.Thakkar. The 2015 encore show will feature 20 company dancers and students from the school performing in classical Bharatanatyam, Odissi and contemporary works. |
,
|
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 view the Toronto Star article. Click here to link to all Menaka Thakkar's awards and honours. |
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company give thanks to our supporters:
|
|
|
|
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company give thanks to its sponsors:
|
|