enriching education, nurturing talent, promoting innovation
Meet Hemantika 2022 artists
Hemantika Day-1
SBDC Students
There will be a celebration of dance featuring over 200 dancer's from SBDC academy. Concept and choreographed by Sujata Banerjee MBE
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SBDC Youth Group
Young aspiring artists of SBDC will present a piece created by Angela Poulima, who is being mentored by Shane Shambhu
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Angela Poulima
Angela Poulima is a Theatre Director and Producer, with a background in physical theatre and devised theatre, after her training as Theatre Director in RESAD drama school, she worked with theatre companies in Greece as Assistant Director and she also created her own work in regional festivals. Angela has a particular focus on community theatre and her work is very visual and imaginative. Her work fuses movement, animated objects, and daily stories for marginalised communities.
Shane Shambhu
Shane Shambhu is the Creative Director of multilingual theatre company, Altered Skin.
He is an award-winning choreographer, Birmingham REP Foundry Alumni, Artistic Associate of CAT Yuva Gati and currently Artist-In-Residence at DanceXchange, where he created and curates UNLEASHED, an international event and performance series that forms part of Birmingham International Dance Festival. Shane's in-depth and embodied explorations of the South Indian performing art of Bharatanatyam has led him to a unique and authentic intercultural approach to theatre and creativity. He shares and collaborates with artists and companies investigating and exploring exciting ideas across the creative industries leading him to work in different roles and capacities.
Guest Artist
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Adhya Shastry
Adhya is 17 years old and started dancing Bharathanatyam, the classical Indian dance form when she was 9 years old at the performing arts group Kalakunj in Reading.
She is the winner of the BBC Young dancer 2022. Adhya has been learning contemporary dance and ballet at The Place CAT scheme since 2019 and attended the Yuvagati CAT scheme in 2016. She is now a member of the 2021-22 National Youth Dance Company. Her future goal is to keep dancing and enjoy wherever dance takes her. She wants to work with and learn from lots of different artists whilst also creating her own work and exploring her way of movement.
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Guest Groups
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Sanskriti UK
Indian Classical Dance (Bharatanatyam in Kalakshetra style) and Carnatic Vocal School based in Ilford, UK, founded by Smt. Shruti Sriram.
The performers are going to showcase a piece dedicated to lord Nataraja the King of bharatanatyam- it is composed by Gopalakrishna Bharati and in ragam poorvi kalyani based in misra Chapel or counts of 7 - rhythmic cycle.
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The piece begins with the composition suggesting that even the flower placed at the Lords holy feet is enough to stand by devotees to get through the journey of life. The second segment of the piece describes the dance of Lord shiva himself and when he performs the tandava - the ganges river on his head along with his consort parvati perform with him joyously. The final segment describes lord brahma the creator keeping rhythm, while nandi shiva's bull plays the drums and narada the sage plays the veena- the string instrument- to accompany lord shiva in his joyful or "ananda" tandavam!
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For this show the choreography was done by Arjun Rakesh - who is part of our teaching team at sanskriti uk in Ilford.
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Manushi Dance
The Manushi Dance Organisation based in Nottingham promotes South Asian Dance and in particular the Indian dance "Kathak" which is one of the 7 classical dance form from India. School is founded by Vina Ladwa.
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The first section of the dance is Devi Bhajan known as "SHAKTI", the feminine energy that is present in this universe. The second section is based on Teental: toda's tukra's, Tihai's, ending with a gat bhava.
Hemantika Day - 2
Kesha Raithatha
Kesha is a dancer and choreographer who embodies Kathak and Contemporary movements in a unique style. She creates work that is rich in detail and experimentally reconsiders contemporary South Asian dance.
Kesha is a Workplace Artist at Place Theatre in London; Associate Artistic Director at Aakash Odedra Company, and Resident Creative artist at Curve Theatre, Leicester, since 2021.
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Payal Ramchandani
Payal is a Kuchipudi dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her training began quite early with renowned and celebrated teachers. Presently she is being trained by Gurus Jaikishor & Padmavani Mosalikanti in Chennai. Her rigorous training has provided for a strong foundation that has helped her evolve as a dancer with her own unique vocabulary.
Payal’s creative work strikes a fine balance between tradition and modernity, showcasing subjects that inflict today’s world.
Payal started Mrija Dance Studio in the United Kingdom. She is listed as one of the under 40 South Asian artistes to watch out for in the UK. She is also closely associated with SPIC MACAY in India. And an artist Doordarshan. Payal has been awarded the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award for her contribution to the field of Kuchipudi and has also been given the title of ‘Nrityashree’ by Pracheen Kala Kendra for excellence in dance.
Arushi Mudgal
Arushi Mudgal is one of the youngest talents in the field of Odissi, known for her technical virtuosity and creative approach to tradition. She has trained under her aunt and Guru Vidushi Madhavi Mudgal at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi.She was selected as one of the Top Ten Dancers of 2018 by the New York Times. After watching Arushi’s performance in New York, Alastair Macaulay, the Chief Dance Critic of the New York Times, wrote: “I was amazed by how fully she seemed one of India’s most remarkable dancers.”
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She has performed at some of the finest theatres of France besides dancing at prestigious festivals in USA, UK, Austria, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Greece, China, Malaysia, Singapore and India.
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Her choreographic quest has led Arushi to explore plural areas of creativity, from traditional to contemporary. Her collaborative projects include ‘Haveli’ , ‘Orfeo - Crossing the Ganges’, , ‘Swadesh’, ‘Sama’, a contemporary work and ‘Theruvil Varano’, an experimental music-video.
Besides writing columns for journals and magazines, Arushi has co-authored a book on the aesthetics of Odissi dance called ‘The Bud and the Blossom’. For her contribution in the field of Odissi dance, she has been presented with various awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi’s prestigious national award - Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Pratibha Samman, the Young Women Achievers’ Award by FICCI, the Indian President’s Bal Shree Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, the Chitra Kala Sangam Samman, the Sanatan Nritya Puraskar, the Original Mind Award, and the Touring Fellowship from Milapfest, UK. She has also been nominated for the Femina Women Award 2017 in the category of Performing Arts.
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SBDC Dancers with Gary Clark
SBDC dancers will be presenting a specially commissioned curated piece by Gary Clark.
Gary Clarke is an acclaimed British Choreographer and is Artistic Director of Gary Clarke Company. His theatrical dance works have toured extensively both nationally and internationally to critical and audience acclaim receiving numerous awards including A UK Theatre Award, A Critics Circle National Dance Award and A Herald Angel Award. He has created stage and site-specific work for The National Theatre, Opera North, Sky Arts, Hull City of Culture 2017, The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Akademi. In 2017 Gary was appointed as an Honorary Fellow at The Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
Hemantika Day - 3
Ashwini Kalsekar
Artistic Director Ashwini Kalsekar of Kirti Kala Mandir, UK , provides Training in pure Kathak for past 13 years in this country. She incorporates the knowledge of the “Gharanedar” Kathak into today’s time, with her experience of 20 dedicated years as a Dancer and teacher and Choreographer.
Her Choreographies are known for exceptional vision, grace and authentic technique.
Under her tutelage, in2022, Siya Kalsekar was the winner of the ISTD Classical Indian Faculty’s senior bursary award. In 2019 her students were the winner of Navadal, a national level south Asian dance competition supported by Akademi and U dance.
Ashwiniji, believes in enhancing each moment, celebrating the flow, and create the never ending existence of happiness through the Power of Dance.
Anaya Vasudha Bolar
Anaya is a professional Bharatnatyam dancer and teacher at Chitralekha Dance Academy. She has trained in Bharatanatyam under her mother, Guru Chitraleka Bolar, a highly acclaimed Bharatanatyam exponent, teacher and choreographer.Anaya was a finalist in the South Asian category of BBC Young Dancer 2015 and 2017 and has also won an ISTD bursary award in 2016.
Anaya’s project EKA, suppoted by Arts Council, was showcased in ‘Resolution 2019’ at The Place Theatre, London. Presently she is an Apprentice with Aakash Odedra for their touring production ‘Little Murmur’.
Sundaresan Ramesh
Sundaresan has been learning Bharatanatyam from Smt. Pushkala Gopal and Smt. Shruti Sriram since 2004. He is a graduate of the Centre of Advanced training at Dancexchange (Birmingham) and an alumnus of the National Youth Dance Company, where he performed across the UK. He is also a category finalist in the BBC Young Dancer Competition. He has graduated from Bayes Business School and is currently continuing his dance training in London.
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