India’s Rhythm: Call and Response Between Tarana and Pallavi

November 17, 2021
Categories: International Education Week, Uncategorized Tags: International Education Week

Event Date:
November 17, 2021 – 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Location:
Rowe 206

Join the Department of Dance for an indoor performance featuring guest performers Setu Patel and Ramma Manjrekar. The performances will focus on the variety of percussive dance traditions in India. Setu Patel and Ramma Manjrekar will showcase two forms of dance, Kathak and Odissi. According to Katha Dance Theatre, “is one of six Indian classical dance forms originating within Hinndu temples as a storytelling device for portraying the epic tales from Hindu scriptures.” Odissi emphasizes sinuous postures and is enlivened by a variety of elevation of jumps.

Patel, a New Jersey based Odissi enthusiast, began her journey by participating in local and national competitions in New Jersey under the guidance of choreographer Smita (Miki) Patel, founder of India Performing Arts Center. At the age of 32, she was drawn to the mystery within the movement and shapes created by Odissi dance and has since committed herself to understanding its secrets which led her to travel to India in 2009 to study in Orissa with the renowned Sujata Mohapatra, daughter-in-law of Kelucharan Mohapatra, eventually returned to New York to continue training and pursuing her passion for Dance.

Manjrekar, a North Carolina based dancer, co-founded Taurya, a dance program that is dedicated to imparting formal training in Kathak to interested students and promoting the art forms of music, dance and theater in the United States. Manjrekar has worked with accomplished visiting artists from India, conducted workshops, seminars and lecture demonstrations of well-known Kathak gurus and connoisseurs, and successfully produced and choreographed various dance and theater productions.

Through this event, the audience will be educated on multiple cultural components (costume, language, aesthetics) and concert dance forms Kathak and Odissi. Participants will also understand how to differentiate rhythmic nuance and appreciate percussive virtuosity.