Beginning tomorrow (November 7), Delhi will once again witness its biggest festival of performing arts. Organised by the Society for the Upliftment of National Arts of India (SUNAINA), the six-day art festival, Indradhanush Dilli – A festival of Arts 2019, will be held at Delhi Tamil Sangam and Sabari Mandap in RK Puram, Lok Kala Manch, Lodhi Road and Muktadhara auditorium, Gole Market.
Over 600 performers, including third-generation artistes, kids, youth and gurus from all over India, will enthral the audiences with their performances.
The festival, the brain child of Bharatnatyam exponent Guru Kanaka Sudhakar, will have artistes competing for ace awards in 18 different classical art categories. Aiming to promote inclusivity, the festival will also see performances by differently-abled artistes from all over the country.
As always, this year too, the festival will start with a seminar, the topic being Facets of Art. Five artistes who have been awarded senior research scholarship by the Delhi Government this year would be participating in the seminar. They will speak on Lost Folk Dances of Uttarakhand, Position of Arts in Education, Shilpchakras of Delhi and the Contribution of Delhi Gharana to Hindustani Music.
We speak to Sudhakar, Founder-President, SUNAINA on Indradhanush Dilli.
When was SUNAINA established and how has been the journey so far?
SUNAINA was set up to promote Indian classical artistes, and has grown with each passing year. Our journey began in 1994, with a three-day Indradhaush Youth Festival to give exposure to young professionals working to promote classical art forms.
In 2011, we launched the four-day children festival Bal Kala Utsav for those in the age group of five to 18. The same year we also started the Guru Samman Award for stalwarts. Then in 2014, we merged both the festivals and began the six-day festival, Indradhanush Dilli – A Festival Of Arts. In 2015, we added the Paras Mani Award for honouring exceptional dancers to our itinerary. The journey so far has been satisfying and we have slowly build up on our strengths.
How is this festival different from the others?
We keep innovating. In 2017, we added Youth Choreographers Festival category wherein the youth who have created their own productions are invited to participate. Some of the interesting productions to be staged this year include Hari Hara by the famous duo Abhimanyu and Vidha Lal, Sama Gana Priyane by my performance troupe, Shoonya by Pritpal Singh Dance Culture group, Besties by Studio Chakraborty and Shiva Tarangam by Abhinaya, among others. This year, we have also added the guru generation. So, each day will begin with a performance by a guru. For instance, Padma Shri Geeta Chandran will perform on the first day.
Tell us a little about your presentation.
I will present a dance drama on the geographical, mythological, historical and architectural importance of the 12 Jyotirlingams in which 12 male dancers will present 12 different dance forms.
There will be an eight-minute story on a Jyotirlingam followed by two-minute dance by a male dancer (as Shiva) on it.
Apart from the Indian classical dances, we have included Flamenco and Western Ballet too.
The dance drama will begin with Shiva invocation, Maheshwar Sutram, which talks about how different languages across the world have originated from Shiva’s drum beat. The idea behind doing this is to educate people on the culture and traditions of India.
There is a section for child prodigies as well…
Yes, it’s called Kala Dhwani, wherein child prodigies will give performances and they will also be honoured with the Bal Nritya Kala Samrat award.
The prodigies selected this year are Mrinmayee, 10, from Bhillai (Bharatanatyam) and R Aditya, 11, from Bengaluru (Kathakali). Children awarded with Star Performers’ award will also perform in this section.