Spirit of Dance Festival 2015
There is nothing beyond the spirit of dance which rejuvenates you from your daily hectic routine. Probably it is one of the most celebrated arts since all of us have a dancer in us, no matter we are trained or not. Yesterday at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, Nrityashri Alaknanda and Alaknanda Institute of Performing Arts celebrated ‘Sprit of Dance Festival 2015’ wherein professional dancers from India and Poland performed various dance forms including Kathak, Chhau from Mayur Bhanj, Sattriya from Assam and Baroque to the delight of all who were present.
Left to Right Aniel Saha CMD Saha Groupe, Neeta Saha, Nrityashree Alaknanda, Pt Birju maharaj on Spring Dance Festival 2015
The event enthralled a lot of celebrities and personalities including the God of Kathak itself, Pt. Birju Maharaj; Hon’ble Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr. Ananth Kumar; Ambassador of Poland to India, Mr. Tomasz Łukaszuk; Odisi Exponent, Ms. Ranjana Gauhar; and MLA of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Vimla Batham.
In its 25 years of journey, Alaknanda Institute for Performing Arts (AIPA) is an institution which has been known for promoting pure classical art and culture to the world and also for preserving the cultural heritage of India.
Ambieca Saha and Nrityashree Alaknanda Performing at Spring Dance Festival
Talking about the journey of 25 years of AIPA, Nrityashri Alaknanda said, “I am thankful to all my mentors, including Pt. Birju Maharaj and my faculty who have honestly given their best to the Institute and honed the skills of my protégés. Indian culture seems to be lost in most areas of education, including the performing arts and the gap has been filled by new age culture, we feel that we should re-acquaint our next generation with the true art forms and with this as motto we have organised Spirit of the Dance Festival 2015.”
“To save Indian culture and promote it a lot more needs to be done, this is just a very small initiative towards achieving the goal and I also thank my sponsors including SAHA Groupe, Indian Oil, MMR, etc who have supported us in doing so.” she added.
Ambieca Saha Performing at Spring Dance Festival
Adding further, Ambieca Saha, a Kathak exponent who performed Solo today and is one of the disciples of Nrityashri Alaknanda said, “16 years ago I was introduced to Kathak and the Guru – Shishya parampara at the Alaknanda Institute of Performing Arts and feel it to be my new umbilical cord. Even my 4 years of physical absence while I was pursuing higher studies in US did not deter me from learning more about Kathak from my Guru. We feel that it is now our duty to safeguard and preserve our cultural heritage and to take this legacy forward. It is very important to introduce the real Indian culture to the youth and we feel if they understand the importance of such arts which exist in a culturally rich country like ours they too will be inclined to respect it and imbibe it.”
Baroque Dance Production by Balet Dworksi Cracovia Danza troupe of Poland left the audience with a memorable performance and gained loads of love from the public. This performance introduced the audience, especially the youngsters, to the classical European dance form. The event concluded with audiences wanting for some more and encouraging the artist to hold more of such shows for inculcating dance knowledge amongst the audience.
