Menaka Thakkar Dance Company

MEDIA

PRESS RELEASE
Monday March 22, 2010 (Markham)

Contemporary Indian Dance Program at Markham Theatre

Markham Theatre for Performing Arts presents Canada’s premiere Indian dance company, Menaka Thakkar Dance Company in Voyage of Awakening – an evening of powerful contemporary dance featuring bharatanatyam, kalaripayattu, aerial and modern dance styles. The evening consists of performances of Agni Ratha – Fiery Chariot, Love’s Folly and Shakti, three very different examples of contemporary Indian dance.

Agni Ratha – Fiery Chariot, is a stunning new choreography by Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar which premiered in Ottawa at the Dancing Through Cultures, Canada Dance Festival in June 2009. Based on the Vedic concept of the sun visualized by a chariot driven by seven horses, which together make up the white light that splinters into different shades as the sun moves from dawn to daylight, Agni Ratha – Fiery Chariot beautifully suggests the spiritual connection between the heavens and earth. The production features eight male and female dancers who perform as the sun and horses.

Love’s Folly is an amusing take on the frustrations and joys of young love that employs cynicism and humour, both of which are rarely treated in Bharatanatyam.

Shakti is an astounding work adapted from the feminist modern classic work Sri by the legendary Chandralekha. Shakti premiered to standing ovations in January at the Contemporary Choreography in Indian Dance Conference and Festival presented by Kalanidhi Fine Arts of Canada in and Menaka Thakkar Dance Company.

Dates and Times: Friday April 16, 8pm
Venue: Markham Theatre for Performing Arts, Anthony Roman Centre, 171 Town Centre Blvd.,Markham
Tickets: $25 and $20 (balcony); FMTDC member price $20
Box Office: 905-305-7469

Media Contact: Karen Dempster
905-763-6083, ext.22
admin@menakathakkardance.org
www.menakathakkardance.org

Press Release
Monday April 13, 2009 (Toronto)

MENAKA THAKKAR presents GITA GOVINDA

A Timeless Tale of Divine Love

In the 12th century, the Bengali poet Jayadevva sat down to write a poem that would express his deep love for his new wife Padmavati, who was a Devadasi dancer when he met her at the temple Jagannath Puri in Orissa, India. Since Devadasi dancers were considered to be married to a diety, Jayadevva felt he had taken his new wife away from Lord Jagannath (Krishna). Wishing to honour both his love and his god, Jagannath imagined the divine desire for spiritual and physical unity between Lord Krishna and his first love Radha. The poem, written in Sanskrit and translated into over 100 languages, called “Gitagovinda” or the “Song of Govinda” was to become one of the most famous sensuous and spiritual love stories ever written.
In the May 2009, Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC) will present an international production of “Gita Govinda” in Odissi dance style featuring guest dancers from India and the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC). The lead roles of Krishna and Radha will be played by Rajib Bhattacharya and Sujata Mohapatra both accomplished disciples of the legendary maestro Kelucharan Mohapatra.

MTDC Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar, who was also a disciple of the late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, created a two-hour Odissi dance solo version of Gita Govinda in 1978 which she performed for over 25 years. Today, in 2009, the Odissi dance solo has been transformed into a large group choreography for eight dancers. The new version of “Gita Govinda” began in a creative residency at The Banff Centre where all of the collaborators and dancers from India and Canada came together. Ms. Thakkar and Ratikant Mohapatra (the son of Guru Mohapatra) partnered to develop an original choreography with music composed by Ashit Desai and Ratikant Mohapatra. The “Gita Govinda” marks new creative relationships between MTDC and Canada’s foremost visual designer, Cylla von Tiedemann and lighting designer Arun Srinivasan. Taking their inspiration from the famous Kangra paintings of “Gitagovinda”, Ms. Tiedemann and Mr. Srinivasan have created a lush setting for the lovers and their attending Gopi girls where they can frolic in the forests of Jagannath.

The “Gita Govinda” will be performed in 2009 starting in London (Sunday May 2), Victoria (Thursday May 14), Surrey (Saturday May 16), Edmonton (Monday May 18) and Toronto (May 23, 24) . Further information is at www.menakathakkardance.org.

Media Contact:
Karen Dempster,
Director of Development and Marketing,
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company,
905-763-6083, ext.25
karendempster@rogers.com

Press Release
December 19, 2008 (Toronto)

Contemporary Choreography in Indian Dance
International Conference and Dance Festival
January 23-31, 2009

Presented by: Kalanidhi Fine Arts of Canada – Artistic Director: Sudha Khandwani
and Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC) – Artistic Director: Menaka Thakkar

Attend a two-day conference that will explore questions of what is “contemporary” Indian dance in India and Canada. Sit back and enjoy six nights of world-class contemporary dance performances featuring five soloists and nine dance companies from India, Germany and Canada.

From its inception in 1993, Sudha Khandwani, Artistic Director of Kalanidhi Fine Arts of Canada has presented the best of contemporary Indian dance works through festival performances and through lively conference sessions and discussion, explored the questions behind the creative aesthetic as well as intellectual analytical issues of Indian dance forms. In 2004 and 2006, Kalanidhi organized a two-part festival and conference, “A Century of Indian Dance,” which covered the volatile evolution of dance in India in the last century. Contemporary Choreography in Indian Dance: International Conference and Festival activities will focus on the questions and issues concerning present day contemporary dance in India and Canada. What does it mean for a choreographer from India to say that a dance is contemporary as opposed to traditional or classic in a country that had its traditional dance reclaimed and modernized only in the past century? Is “contemporary” unconnected to the past? What makes a dance contemporary? Is it in the body movements? The themes? The dance styles? Is “contemporary” not classical? What happens when a classical art form modernizes?

A special event of the Conference and Festival will be a tribute to modern dance pioneer Chandralekha (who passed away in December 2006) leaving a large body of some of the most radical and deeply explored works of Indian dance. Chandralekha will be celebrated in both performance and at the conference. German dancer-choreographer Susanne Linke, who was very close to Chandralekha and sometimes provided critical feedback on her works, will speak about Chandralekha’s contribution to contemporary dance. Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich will perform their North American premieres “Kaikou – Lin” and “Herz. Kammern” respectively on opening night, January 23rd. Also on opening night, Menaka Thakkar Dance Company will perform an acquired choreography of Chandralekha’s work entitled “Shakti” which is an excerpt of the feminist modern classic “Sri.” “It is highly unfortunate that although of deep significance for the development of contemporary Indian dance, many of her works have not been seen widely” states Menaka Thakkar. Ms. Thakkar will speak at the conference on the process of training her company dancers to perform a Chandralekha choreography. Sadanand Menon, Chandralekha’s life partner will speak on her life and art and approaches to choreography in the Saturday January 24th session and in the evening of the 24th, The Chandralekha Group from India will perform “Sharira (Fire/Desire)” featuring Shaji K. John and Tishani Doshi.

Festival performances continue from January 28th through 31st at Harbourfront Centre’s Fleck Dance Theatre featuring “Timeless,” a large international production with seven dancers and live music from Kathak modern dance choreographer Adithi Mangaldas and the best of Canadian contemporary choreographers including Natasha Bakht, Nova Bhattacharya, Louis Laberge Côté, Usha Gupta (with Madhu Nataraj from India), Janak Khendry, Hari Krishnan (with Anita Ratnam from India), Lata Pada, and Roger Sinha.

Media Contact:
Karen Dempster – 905-763-6083, ext.22, karendempster@rogers.com

CONFERENCE AND FESTIVAL QUICK FACTS

Two-day Conference:
January 24 & 25; 9:00am to 5:30pm;
Best Western Primrose Hotel, 111 Carlton Street (at Jarvis), Toronto

Festival Performances:
January 23 & 24; 8pm;
Betty Oliphant Theatre, Canada’s National Ballet School, 400 Jarvis Street, Toronto

January 28-31; 8pm;
Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay, Toronto

Tickets:
Conference Sessions: $25 (two-day pass); $20 Students/Seniors/Artists
Betty Oliphant Festival Performances: $35; $28 Students/Seniors/Artists
Fleck Dance Theatre Festival Performances: $30; $25 Students/Seniors/Artists
Next Steps (Harbourfront Centre): $24; Students/Seniors/Artists $20;
Packages:
All Six Festival Performances: $120; $100 Students/Seniors/Artists
Conference Pack: $75 Two Shows (January 23 & 24) + Two-day Conference Pass

Box Office:
416-973-4000; Online: harbourfrontcentre.com

Conference Information:
Speakers and panelists from India, Canada, USA, and Germany.

Saturday January 23
9:00 - Registration and Coffee
9:30 to 5:30:
-Welcome and Opening Remarks
-Mapping the Domain: Vision and objective of the Conference
-Chandralekha: A Tribute
A tribute to modern Indian dance pioneer Chandralekha featuring talks and discussion on her life and art, her approach to choreography, experiences of working with her and acquiring her choreography.
-Four Contemporary Choreographers of India

Sunday January 24
9:00 - Registration and Coffee
9:30 to 5:30:
-Contested Space: What is “Contemporary?” What is “Traditional” in Indian dance? How does this compare with other dance cultures?
-Contemporary Dance: A Matter of Movement?
-Contemporary Dance: A Matter of Choreography?
-Contemporary Dance: New Themes and Modes of Presentation
-Contemporary Dance: Meaning and Communication
-When a Tradition Modernizes

Festival Performances Program:

January 23 – Opening Night:

Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC) (Toronto) (30 min.)
Chandralekha’s “Shakti”
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company pays tribute to Chandralekha by presenting the premiere performance of an acquired choreographic work of the renowned contemporary Indian dance choreographer. Shakti is part of a larger feminist modern classic Sri that Chandralekha created in 1991. Creatively integrating movement vocabularies of Bharatanatyam, Yoga and Kalarippayattu, the work develops the theme of a women’s transformation from enslavement to empowerment.

Urs Dietrich (Germany) (20 min.)
Herzkammern (Heart Chambers) North American Premiere
Award-winning modern dancer Urs Dietrich performs his most recent choreography in this North American Premiere.

Susanne Linke (Germany) (20 min.)
Kaikou - Yin (Transmigration) North American Premiere
Kaikou- Yin is a startling new work by world-renowned modern dancer Susanne Linke which speaks to the animalistic element of human being and the human part of animals. Kaikou-Yin had its world premiere in July 2008 at the Teatro Romano di Fiesole.

January 24:

The Chandralekha Group (India) (65min.)
Sharira (Fire/Desire)
With: Shaji K. John and Tishani Doshi
Choreographed by the legendary contemporary Indian dance choreographer, Chandralekha. Sharira celebrates the living body in which sexuality, sensuality and spirituality co-exist – to acknowledging no limits, no borders, boundaries.

January 28:

Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company - The Drishtikon Dance Foundation (India) (70 minutes)
Timeless North American Premiere
Choreography: Aditi Mangaldas
Featuring: Seven modern Kathak dancers with live music
In the words of Seng-ts’an “This is where words fail, for it is not of the past, future or present”. ‘Timeless’ is not an answer, not a statement, not an opinion nor a single perspective. It is a question....in fact many questions. It is an attempt to see...to feel...to experience…to hear...to touch this intangible, wonder filled thing called TIME.....maybe one sees it as time related to space, maybe one hears it as an eternal flow, maybe one perceives it as totally still….maybe?

Sinha Danse (Montreal) (18 min.)
Quebasian Rhapsody
Featuring: Roger Sinha and Magdalena Nowecka
In Quebasian Rhapsody (a word play on Quebec & Asian) choreographer Roger Sinha has taken excerpts from his numerous choreographies such as Thok, Loha, Apricots & Thread that have emphasized a duo vocabulary particularly with Bharat Natyam vocabulary. This duet will be performed with long-time Sinha Danse dancer Magdalena Nowecka. (Natasha Bakht was co-choreographer with some of the works in this piece including Loha).

anuary 29:

Madhu Nataraj (India) (25 min.)
BINDU: The Womb of Brilliance
Choreography: Madhu Nataraj
Fearlessness, fecundity, empowerment are seen as facets of brilliance and femininity. These are woven through a philosophical narrative, seen through the eyes of Kali (Abhaya), Gauri (resplendence & fertility), and Durga
(equilibrium) to celebrate the eternal mystic of the feminine divine.

Janak Khendry Dance Company (Toronto) (25 min.)
Dream of a Drunken God
Choreography: Janak Khendry
Life and the world are the dream of a drunken god, who steals away from the banquet of the gods and falls asleep on a solitary star, unaware that he creates what he dreams of.

January 30:

Usha Dance Entourage (India & Edmonton) (45 min.)
Nari, Nari, Nari…My Love
Featuring: Madhu Nataraj, Tamara Bliss, and Riya Alika Mittal with live music
A meditation on the three stages of love in a woman’s life: as a maiden, as a wife and mother, and as a mature woman. Live music.

Natasha Bakht (Ottawa) (20 min.)
White Space
A new contemporary choreography from Canada’s Indian contemporary dancer / choreographer Natasha Bakht, White Space a mortal coil…spiraling…of the colonial religious and political history lodged in walls and dreams.

Ipsita Nova Dance Projects (Toronto) (20 min.)
Unspoken
Choreography: Nova Bhattacharya
Unspoken is a solo of rhythmic and gestural complexity that bristles with razor precision and emotional intensity.
Two Doors Down
Choreography: Nova Bhattacharya & Louis Laberge-Côté
A glimpse into Bhattacharya and Laberge-Cote’s newest creation. Celebrating the power and beauty of abstraction and the transformative experience they have undergone in their creative relationship of 7 years.
Two Doors Down embraces the creators’ commitment to universality through individuality and gives voice to the powerful shared artistic vision of this unique duo.

January 31:

Sampradaya Dance Creations – Lata Pada (Mississauga) (60 min.)
shunya
From a young age, I have been fascinated with the riddle of shunya, drawn to the paradox of it being both zero and infin¬ity at the same time. My great grandfa¬ther, who was a mathematician at the court of Mysore in South India explained to me how the concept of shunya originated in India and influenced world thought, trav¬elling to distant lands such as China and Persia. He urged me to imagine it as an abyss of emptiness as well as an infinite fullness of space. How could I have known then, that this motif would recur in my life and indeed in a new dance work? Two classical dance forms- bharatanatyam and kathak are the languages where these ideas are expressed within their in¬dividual dynamics and aesthetics. My dancers have imprinted their personal stories in this work; each gesture, each breath, each step of theirs has painted the canvas of the stage; collectively, we have shared and searched for a common universal truth - shunya.

inDANCE – Hari Krishnan (India & Toronto) (40 min.)
Bollywood Hopscotch
Choreographed by artistic director Hari Krishnan, Bollywood Hopscotch is a light-hearted, whimsical and subversive take on Bollywood retro-culture as seen through the eyes of the Bollywood Diva who is simultaneously coy, vivacious, shy, tragic, melancholic, romantic, yet eternally happy. Seven dancers create snapshot vignettes from the Diva’s many lives.

Seven Graces
Performed by Anita Ratnam and co-choreographed by Anita Ratnam and Hari Krishnan, Seven Graces is a solo multi-media dance work which references the Buddhist Goddess Tara in a modern context, offering a journey to aesthetic eternities, exploring the aura and grace of the feminine transcendental.