Mind Adventures theatre workshops for children
Karavika is New York based quartet which is named after a mythical, soulful songbird of the same name found in Buddhist texts and is known to sing in the loving presence of family and friends. Inspired by this togetherness, ‘Karavika’ is currently working on releasing their second album ‘Of Earth and Sky’, which is scheduled to be released in August this year. The quartet comprises Amali Premawardhana on cello, Trina Basu on violin and Perry Wortman on bass and they are joined by various guest artistes. The CD will explore the themes of motherhood, childhood, family and love – and is partly inspired by Amali and Trina’s recent experiences as new mothers and starting a family. ‘Karavika’ spoke to the Sunday Times about their music and upcoming album and discussed their inspiration and plans for the future.
Karavika began when cofounders Amali and Trina met through a mutual musician and friend in 2007 and realized that they shared an interest for exploring music - especially Indian classical music. They began as a violin/ cello duo and they created most of the music for their first album ‘Sunrise’ as a duo. Trina feels that the intimate process of experimenting with new sounds and trying out new tech-
Mind Adventures will begin theatre workshops for children starting from June 20. Registration is now open for those wishing to enrol.
Mind Adventures, established in 1999, is well known for producing contemporary and socially conscious Sri Lankan theatre. The company’s repertoire includes original plays and work by local writers. Mind Adventures also runs an outreach project focusing on teaching skills, employing drama therapy techniques and creating performances with underprivileged urban youth. The company also works with many schools in the country, in developing theatre and the arts as tools for personal development.
This series of workshops will be conducted by Vindhya Fernando, an actor, director and singer with a BA in Theatre and Sociology from Suffolk University, Boston. She is also an Associate of Trinity College London. Vindhya has worked with Company One Theatre and Central Square Theatre in the US and is currently a member of the Mind Adventures tabla player and the versatility of their music allows them to work with musicians who have a western sound as well. For ‘Of Earth and Sky’, they have worked with a few other New York based artistes, includuding bansuri player Jay Gandhi,hi, carnatic vocalist Roopa Mahadevan, carnatic violinist, st, Arun Ramamurthy, mridangamgam player Rajna Swaminathan, and tabla players Avi Shah andnd Sameer Gupta. The music Karavika plays is called ‘Raga’– a form of Indian classical music. ic. In spite of the fact thatat the music is primarily y Indian, they also o draw from the classical and folk traditions of America. Amali feels that although it has been challenging to incor- Theatre Company.
The workshops aim at inculcating a deeper understanding of theatre in students through an informal class structure. The aim of the workshops is to enable students to explore creative expression, improvisational skills, characterisation and exploring “the self”. Improvisation, comedy, and devised theatre forms will be explored.
There are no prerequisites to join the course, says Tracy Holsinger, Artistic Director of Mind Adventures, “except a love for the
p ferent sy music in a way that sound fake, their pr very natural. The m starts with one per When someone bri or melody, they all w decide whether or n build their music u tral idea. ‘Our aim balance between pr essence of the folk traditions while co subject.” Students will be grouped as 8-13 years and 14-18 years and each group will have a 1.5 hour session every week, for four consecutive weeks. Each session, priced at Rs. 1000 per student, will accommodate a maximum of 12 students.
The workshops will take place at the Nelung Arts Centre, Hyde Park Corner. Registrations close on June 24 and are on a first come, first serve basis. For more information please contact Vindhya on onvindhya.f@gmail.com