It was a typical February evening in London: grey skies with a light drizzle, one that doesn’t invoke much joy. But when the house lights dimmed and the first twang of sitar filled the space, we may well have been in a Mogul court preparing to be dazzled
14 March 2016
The buzz at the Southbank Centre, with close to sold-out performances throughout the programme, demonstrates the growing momentum of the Darbar Festival. On the final evening, the organisers scheduled a leap into the world of classical Indian dance; a decision that I am sure they do not regret.
24 December 2015
Dance professionals adept at the classical form odissi tend to receive less attention in the UK than those who practise either bharatanatyam or kathak.
24 December 2015
Pelva Naik’s afternoon recital was a reminder of how important the Darbar Festival is now. Its track record for bringing over new acts or acts new to the UK is exemplary.
24 December 2015
Treating an abstract theme presents a challenge for any choreographer trained in Indian classical dance. How can the body reproduce the naturally disembodied?
14 September 2015
Celebrated artists Aakash Odedra and Kalpana Raghuraman recently presented their works Rising and Through the Eyes of My City respectively in Singapore at Samarpana 2015. The three-day festival was held at the Esplanade Theatre.
14 September 2015
Akademi’s Choreogata is a professional development programme commissioning two artists each year to create new, contemporary South Asian dance works…. Read More
14 September 2015
Although this internationally-acclaimed company is well-known to US audiences and has graced both the Edinburgh Fringe and international festivals in recent years, this was, inexplicably, their first London performance.
23 June 2015
This was a work of depth and substance, educative and visually stunning. It was political. It was a commentary on Petipa’s 1877 ballet La Bayadère, a subversion of it and a positioning of contemporary dance in the present moment.
23 June 2015
Co-presented by Kadam/Pulse and the Tagore Centre, this varied, ambitious and yet intimate evening of work was in large part inspired by the work – and in particular the poetry – of the incredibly influential Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore.
23 June 2015
