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TThe Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is proud to announce that company founder and Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar has won a national “Excellence in Multiculturalism Celebration” Award for Arts and Education presented by the EMCY (Enriching My Canada and Yours) Awards Foundation. The EMCY Awards Foundation is a national awards program that recognizes individuals, institutions, companies and organizations for their working fighting racism, creating inclusive work places and stimulating dialogue and action on making Canada a nation open to the diversity of the human condition. The EMCY Awards Foundation was established in 2008 to recognize outstanding individuals and organizations who have displayed: Vision, Leadership, Innovation, Achievement and Impact in cultural diversity within their respective categories. There were 10 Categories: Business, Youth, Media, Humanitarian, Arts/Education, Sports/Fitness, University, Province/Territory, City/Community, and Lifetime Achievement. Menaka Thakkar was honoured for her continuing legacy of having introduced Indian dance to Canada over 37 years ago through performance and education and for her work in attaining recognition of classical Indian dance as an art form and part of the Canadian cultural landscape. “I am particularly pleased to receive this beautiful award as it represents to me what it means to be a Canadian. We are all people who have come from other cultures, who come together to share and learn from one another,” said Ms. Thakkar upon receipt of her glass crystal award, “this award is an acknowledgment of the importance of the arts in Canada for raising understanding of our diverse cultures.” Other
winners included: Reginans Jeanne Martinson (the for business award), Richard Engel (sports) and the University of Regina (university); Sask Intercultural Association (Saskatoon); Hannah Taylor of Winnipeg (Youth); City of London, Ont. (city/community); and Kai Liu of Ottawa, Ont. (lifetime achievement).
MOVING TO RHYTHM - A Celebration of Menaka Thakkar The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company celebrates the legacy of Artistic Director, Menaka Thakkar with an exciting new show Saturday April 19, 8pm at Markham Theatre for Performing Arts. The evening includes a remount of Thakkar’s LOVE’S FOLLY, a delightfully coy story of unrequited love and MOVING TO RHYTHM, a fascinating kinetic and physical essay inspired by the structure of Ravel’s “Bolero”. MOVING TO RHYTHM illustrates through dance the evolution of Canada’s foremost Indian dancer/choreographer Menaka Thakkar from the time she arrived in Canada from India 37 years ago and introduced Indian culture to Canada through classical Indian dance. The performance begins with classical Bharatanatyam and quickly moves to worlds rhythms such as Latin and Caribbean which are integrated into classical Indian dance time cycles and dance movements. The final part of the dance involves the entire company dancing to world rhythms and music in an Indian melody form. The music for this original choreography was inspired by Ravel’s “Bolero” and was created by Montreal’s Vasudevan Govindarajan and Toronto composer Ron Allen. LOVE’S FOLLY and MOVING TO RHYTHM will feature performances by top company dancers including Sukeyna Subramaniam, Shantini Kangesan, Neena Jayaragan, Paranitha Rajagopalan, Anu Yogeswaran, Cynthiya Ruban and Garima Talwar with two guest performers from India, Debu Kumar Paul and Kalishwaran Pillai. Tickets are on sale at: Markham Theatre for Performing Arts Ticket Prices: Show Times: Media Contact:
About the Menaka Thakkar Legacy: Menaka Thakkar is a master dancer in three classical Indian styles – Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. Now in her 65th year, Ms. Thakkar settled in Canada over 35 years ago at the peak of her career as an international soloist. She is credited (along with Kathak dancer, Rina Singha) as having been the first artist to introduce Indian culture to Canadian audiences. In the early years Ms. Thakkar performed across Canada and soon began to train youngsters in classical bharatanatyam. Eventually she began creating original choreographies that were performed in major venues across Canada. She opened the first school of Indian dance in Canada, Nrytakala which continues to train new generations of dancers and formed the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company comprised of graduates of her school. The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company became the first South Asian arts organization to be recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts thereby opening the door to other multicultural artists to receive funding. Today the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company, known as MTDC is Canada’s premiere Indian dance company. It includes up to 20 professional dancers who have each studied with Ms. Thakkar from 16 to 26 years. Ms. Thakkar has won many awards and honours in her long career including an honourary doctorate from York University, 2006 City of Toronto Face the Arts Cultural Maverick Award for Dance, Toronto Arts Award for Performing Arts, President’s Award from Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce and Tri-National Creative Residency Award from the Canada-Mexico joint program administered by the National Endowment for the Arts, USA. Ms. Thakkar has created groundbreaking choreographies since coming to Canada which reflect both her exposure to western dance styles and her background in classical Indian dance. She has collaborated with many of Canada’s most accomplished dancers including Claudia Moore, Danny Grossman, William Lau, Robert Desrosiers, Patrick Parson, Debbie Wilson and Grant Strate to create possibly some of the first fusion pieces in Canada and group choreographies for Indian dancers. In addition, Ms. Thakkar has also reached out to students of ballet at the National Ballet School through an annual residency in which she has trained ballet students in classical bharatnatyam for the past 20 years. Today the legacy continues with the formation of the new wing of MTDC for contemporary Indian dance which nurtures young professionals in creating choreography and provides opportunities to work with company dancers. Ms. Thakkar’s school, Nrytakala, located in Thornhill, Ontario trains over 100 students from ages 5 to 18 years old annually and has graduated close to 150 students in their junior and senior arangetrams. Many of the graduates have gone on to develop their own dance companies and solo careers in dance such as Winnipeg’s “Manohar Dance Company”, Natasha Bakht, Niharika Mohanty, and Nova Bhattacharya. MTDC has recently developed a new wing for young audiences and performs shows in theatres and schools in Ontario and British Columbia annually. The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company continues to present an annual home season in Toronto and tours nationally every year. The MTDC dancers are rigorously trained and continuously provided with professional development training in body conditioning and with special choreo-labs in other kinds of dance styles to increase their versatility as dancers. Menaka Thakkar continues to oversee the company and school’s operations as the Artistic Director and continues to develop uncompromising choreographies which consistently break new ground and change the face of Indian dance in Canada.
MENAKA THAKKAR DANCE COMPANY
RIAZ, HOMECOMING and PARASHAKTI Friday, July 6, 2007
at 8pm When Menaka Thakkar moved to Canada from India thirty-five years ago, Classical Indian dance hardly existed in this country. Thisevening showcases the creative development of the fusion of classical Indian movements with contemporary dance movements. Thakkar is pleased to see this choreographic synthesis continuing with one of her own trained dancers, Natasha Bakht, who has become known for this style of choreography and who has become one of Canada's foremost Indian solo dancers. The remounts of Parashakti and Homecoming mark the historical development of Thakkar’s vision of contemporary choreography in Indian dance. Parashakti stretches the limits of Bharatanatyam dance in portraying the cycle of Creation, Sustenance, Destruction and Re-birth. Based on Sangam poetry from Pre-Classical Tamil culture, Homecoming is a love story about trust and faith and pushes the form even more. Riaz takes classical Bharatnatyam movements and gives them a modern twist in Bakht’s own exciting individual style. Riaz sees Bakht come full circle with Thakkar. She began her training with Thakkar at age five and was one of her star pupils. Bakht went on to tour Canada several times with the company before starting her own successful independent dance career. She returns to the company now as Associate Choreographer.
For three seasons she danced with the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in London, England, renowned for its groundbreaking work in Indian contemporary dance. She has collaborated with Montreal’s Roger Sinha on two pieces. Her own choreography includes three solos for herself entitled Dance If You Must, Appropriating Edges and Obiter Dictum. Obiter Dictum was nominated for a 2003 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Choreography. Her latest work Riaz, for the
Menaka Thakkar Dance Company, premiered at the end of May.
Photographed by Jennifer Long
Meet Menaka Thakkar Artistic director Menaka Thakkar is an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer and teacher, working in three classical forms of Indian dance: Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. Menaka has been the subject of rave reviews and accolades: She has been hailed as a dancer "in a class by herself" by The Times of India, and "a rare jewel in the richly encrusted crown of Toronto's dance community" by The Globe and Mail. Menaka's greatest contribution to Indian dance has been the establishment of its presence in the Canadian mind through tireless effort over a 30-year period. Her work has been recognized with many awards and honours, including an honorary Doctor of Letters from York University, the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce President's Award, and the Toronto Arts Award in the category of performing arts. As a performer, Menaka has had an extensive international solo career, and also worked as the principal dancer and artistic director of The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company. As a professional young dancer in India, Menaka received the prestigious Singar Mani award twice, for excellence in performing Bharatanatyam (1968) and Odissi (1970). Dance critics around the world have hailed her artistry. William Littler of the Toronto Star claimed that the Canadian dance scene has never been the same since Menaka made her home in Toronto. Leading Indian dance critic Sunil Kothari said: "she has proven that even if she is based in Toronto, she has enough stature to rub shoulders with the leading dancers of the country [India]." As a choreographer, Menaka exposes her audience to a variety of productions: from stunning solo numbers to elaborate dance dramas; from pure traditional dance to experimental works that fuse several dance styles. Whether in traditional or non-traditional styles, Menaka Thakkar's choreography is rich, textured, innovative and multi-layered in meaning and nuance. Her output over the last 30 years is prolific, varied and innovative. She has been hailed as a pioneer, breaking new ground and paving ways in several directions for others to follow— whether fusing the styles of different cultures, treating contemporary themes, or experimenting with large Western musical ensembles.
In Menaka Thakkar's own words, "I believe everybody should have dance in their life, and would love to see Toronto's soil shake with dancing feet." The City of Toronto joined Menaka at work to find out how she's bringing great ideas to life with dance.
How would you describe Toronto's
professional dance community? What makes it unique? How has Toronto's dance community
changed since you joined it?
How has living in Toronto influenced you
as a performer and choreographer of Indian dance? What are some of your favourite spaces
for dance performances in Toronto? What are some of your favourite places
to spend time in Toronto? What are your hopes for the future of
Toronto's professional dance community?
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Natasha Bakht is an Indian contemporary dancer
and choreographer. She trained in bharata natyam under Menaka Thakkar for
over 20 years, touring internationally with her company. Natasha has
worked with choreographers Yvonne Coutts, Joan Phillips, Wayne McGregor
and Robert Desrosiers and has appeared in their works in a variety of
festivals including, Vancouver’s Dancing on the Edge Festival, several
Kalanidhi Festivals and the Canada Dance Festival. 
