THE PARK’s NEW FESTIVAL Edition V
PERFORMANCES
Parijat Desai Dance Company
Parijat Desai Dance Company performs a blend of Indian classical and Western contemporary dance. Choreographer Parijat Desai integrates the sculptural lines, intricate rhythms and theatricality of Indian dance with the full-bodied movement and conceptual experimentation of modern. Through this hybrid language, she expresses a voice at once South Asian and American. Using emotion and humor, as well as the visceral power of dance itself, Desai communicates across the boundaries of culture, nation and religion. Make Space Set to electronic music by South Asian American artists, Make Space rewires the sculptural positions of Indian dance using dynamic modern dance, and remixes classical footwork rhythms. Dancers undulate and slide their bodies, creating openings within rigid classical forms, traveling out into space and into the air. Songs To Live For In Songs To Live For Choreographer Parijat Desai explores the sublime Hindustani love songs, but she bring a completely new dance styles that blends the full-bodied movement and partnering from Western contemporary dance with subtle Indian classical gesture.
Maya Krishna Rao
Maya Krishna Rao lends a new dimension to contemporary Indian theatre – both on and off stage. She acts, sings, raps, dances, writes her own scripts, directs herself, and is one of the very few woman stand-up comedians in India. Maya is also visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, New Delhi, where she teaches acting. Her shows have traveled the world, filled with wicked humour handling a range of themes that go from a random item in the morning newspapers to the Natyashastra; she covers the entire gamut from the political, to the social and the philosophical… Quality Street This is a solo performance based on a delightful short story by the Nigerian award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The story has universal appeal; it is funny; and it perfectly pitches present-day concerns about culture. With minor modifications, the story fits into any setting. It’s a non-stop ‘boxing match’ between a mother and her daughter, which is exciting and moving. What is special is the way the actor switches between characters. With music to accompany her, she talks, she sings, she raps. Mrs. Njoku’s daughter, Sochienne, has just got home, having completed her studies in the U.S. She is changed. Living abroad has given her seemingly new values but has strangely also brought her close to her roots. But the mother is western in a colonial way- and the stage is set for a clash! There is a delightful twist at the end, needless to say. The Non Stop Car-Food-Clothes-Feel-Good-Show This is an extravagantly funny show. An unstoppable woman seeks the best clothes, food, car, lifestyle…to make her life more meaningful, and yours vicariously. She is an expert on everything- from food to inner peace, you name it. It’s another thing that some themes get a little jumbled in her head sometimes. But the final score is always philosophical. The show has episodes – short, sharp, affectionate, sometimes moving glimpses of the urban citizen’s idiosyncrasies and obsessions. The artist, through characters that change with lightning speed- much like in a Hindi film- takes the audience on a roller coaster ride that goes from the spiritual journey of an NRI jogger to the car-obsessed travails of a television cookery expert to an incomparable audio visual ‘autobiographical tale’…and more.
(A Vismayah presentation)
DNOAX – Universal Hip Hop Reborn
Hip Hop is no longer the identity of one race, country or continent. Under their own record label Desi Media Networks, 15 rappers get together as DNOAX (Desi Number One Artistes X) making Hip Hop a universal phenomenon. Snypah Killah a.k.a Varun started this with four rappers in Chennai and over seven years many have joined together to form DNOAX. Their diverse music challenges the common misconception of Hip Hop as music of drugs, cash, cars, clothes, semi-clad women, bling, etc. The Rappers/Artists who form a part of Dnoax are as follows: Roll Rida a.k.a Rahul from Hyderabad Monica from Hyderabad Ace from Mumbai Vamsi from Mumbai They came. They saw. They conquered and They (made you) see (the)
Tagore on Vinyl – Traveling with Thakur directed by Peter Arun Pfaff Choreography: Sandra Chatterjee | Dramaturgy: Anirban Ghosh Credits: Sarmila Bose, Oliver Rajamani (voice, music), Friedel Lelonek (remix), Catherine Janke (voice over), Pravu Mazumdar (voice-over, translation), Alokeranjan Dasgupta (voice over, translation), Constanze Knapp (costume), Aditee Biswas (stage), Martin Herale (light design) Searching through her father’s collection of music records, Sandra finds traces that lead her to the work of Rabindranath Thakur. Alongside the memories of the Bengali songs of her childhood, she is fascinated by the philosophical and political ideas of the world-traveler Tagore, who saw the encounters between “East and West” as the important fact of the current age. In particular his thoughts on the role of Europe in the world – between postcolonial modernity and nationalism – remain an important starting point for a choreographic memory – approximately a hundred years later, and in the Diaspora. Between these overlapping layers of exploration and memory, a very personal dialogue with Rabindranath Thakur’s work emerges, in part in the form of dance, in part as text and in part as video.
Best of Short+Sweet Chennai: Short+Sweet Theatre is the biggest festival of ten-minute theatre in the world, starting in Australia in 2002 and held annually in 30 cities in 7 different countries, including in India (Delhi) from last year. Short+Sweet aims to provide a platform for actors, writers and directors to create high quality new work in professional theatre and a collaborative environment where established practitioners may pass on knowledge to others in the theatre arts. The Short+Sweet South India was presented by Prakriti Foundation along with The Blu Lotus Company in Chennai for the first time in July 2011. Six plays that reached the finals this year are being staged again at The Park’s New Festival.
Because The World Needs Unicorns
directed by Freddy Koikaran, written by Cerise de Gelder: A desperate refugee begs for safe haven and is met with rigid rules and red tape. But he hasn’t arrived on a boat…he needs to get on one. (Cast: Vivek Hariharan, Naren Weiss, Venkatesh Harinathan)
The Fruits of War
directed by Samyuktha PC, written by Earl T.Roske: The benefits of war…with fruit. (Cast: Karan Nair, Naren Weiss)
The Artiste
directed by Mike Muthu, written by Pathy Aiyar: Where does art end and nature begin? (Cast: Vinod Anand, Mohammad Yusuf, Pavitra)
Breath of Life
directed by Koumarane Valavane, written by Cordis Paladano, Koumarane Valavane: The birth of emotion, the discovery of pleasure, and the emergence of attachment in a young angel that has come to fetch the soul of a woman of pleasure. (Cast: Aditi Bheda, Vasanth Selvam, Cordis Paladano, Vinoth Charles)
He and She
directed by V.Balakrishnan, written by Arthi Menon: A love story of changing identities that change the relationship. (Cast: Aarti Aney, Prateeksha Chandrasekar)
The Lost Audition
directed and written by Rajiv Rajaram: An audition that was never meant to be. (Cast: Mathivanan Rajendran, Venkatesh Harinathan
New Delhi 1st September - Maya Krishna Rao – Yantra, Park Hotel, 7 pm 2nd September - DNOAX - Agni, Park Hotel 3rd September - Parijat Desai Dance Company – Yantra, Park Hotel
Kolkata 6th September - Parijat Desai Dance Company – ICCR Auditorium, 7 pm 7th September - Maya Krishna Rao – Galaxy, Park Hotel, 7 pm 8th September - DNOAX – Roxy, Park Hotel, 7 pm
Mumbai 9th September - DNOAX – Blue Frog, 7 pm 10th September - Maya Krishna Rao - NCPA Experimental Theatre, 7pm 12th September - Parijat Desai Dance Company – NCPA Experimental Theatre, 7 pm
Hyderabad 13th September - Maya Krishna Rao – Park Hotel, 7 pm 14th September - Parijat Desai Dance Company – Park Hotel, 7 pm 15th September - DNOAX - Park Hotel, 7 pm
Bangalore 16th September - Parijat Desai Dance Company 17th September - DNOAX - Park Hotel, 8.30 pm 18th September - Maya Krishna Rao - Ranga Shankara, 3pm, 7 pm
Chennai 21st September - Maya Krishna Rao – Museum Theatre 22nd September - Parijat Desai Dance Company – Museum Theatre 23rd September - DNOAX – Pasha, Park Hotel 24th September - Tagore on Vinyl – Travelling with Thakur – Museum Theatre 25th September - Best of Short and Sweet – A collection of 6 10 minute plays- Museum Theatre
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You can contact Prakriti Foundation for more details at : No. 1, 9th Floor, C Block Tel : +91-44-45904707 |
