Durban festival of Indian dance coming up

DURBAN’S Playhouse Drama Theatre will be the place to be from Friday to Sunday if you have a penchant for Indian classical and contemporary dance, as the inaugural Nriyta Aangan Dance Festival is planned for the venue.

The festival is set to showcase a vibrant display of bharata natyam, kathak, traditional folk dances of India, and contemporary and collaborative work.

The event is hosted by the newly formed South African Indian Dance Alliance which hopes to grow the festival as a commitment to ensure sustaining the Indian arts in South Africa.

The alliance is the brainchild of Durban Indian dance stalwart Smeetha Maharaj, who has a passion for both Indian classical and contemporary arts.

The vision is to create global awareness of the status of Indian dance in South Africa and document it for future generations, she explains.

“We aim to be the voice for Indian dance on issues pertaining to funding, standardisation and recognition of Indian heritage, and also aim to be a platform for creating unity for Indian dance.”

Friday’s opening will showcase bharata natyam and kathak dance from prominent schools in Durban, which will present group work.

Saturday’s show will feature Anniruddha Knight from the US, a bharata natyam dancer from the famous Balasaraswati School, who will perform alongside musicians from Chennai, India.

Knight will also share his legacy and personal association with the Devadasi System of India.

“On Saturday, we are honoured to present senior artists in South Africa in solo presentations – Durban’s Manesh Maharaj, Seema Lalaa and Anusha Pillay from Johannesburg and Darshana Rama from Cape Town.

“On Sunday, Lliane Loots’s At the Feet of Kali and Verushka Pather and Vusi Makanya’s signature piece, A Drum Beat, are on the programme, while another highlight will be discussion of the holy book of dance, The Natyashastra, by Cape Townbased writer, historian and dancer Heather Parker.”

Vasugi Singh will share an extract from research for her Master’s degree on bharatha natyam.

More information: Verushka, 074 270 0037 or 032 586 1105.

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Members of Nateshwar Dance Academy who will participate in the three-day Nriyta Aangan Dance Festival at Durban’s Playhouse Drama from Friday.