PREVIEW: World Dance Day 2024 weekend with Natya Vriksha

Guru Geeta Chandran (pic: Avinash Dey)

Whether or not it rains this weekend, on 20 and 21 April, celebrate the season of dance with Natya Vriksha's World Dance Day 2024 utsav. The Natya Vriksha World Dance Day festival, curated by Geeta Chandran, takes place this weekend at the India International Centre. The Padma Shri awardee is also celebrating over five decades of dance this year!

Day 1 begins at 9.30 am on 20 April with a workshop on movement techniques in Sattriya conducted by Prateesha Suresh with artists from Assam. This will be followed by the conferment of the Lifetime Achievement Award on dance scholar and writer Leela Venkataraman, followed by a discussion with scholar V.R. Devika on her book on Rukmini Devi Arundale. 

Vaishnavi and Nivedha with their guru Roja Kannan

Divya Goswami

 The much anticipated Young Dancers festival will start at 6.30 pm and will feature Bharatanatyam by Vaishnavi Srinivasan and Nivedha Harish and Kathak by Divya Goswami.

Thomas Vo Van Tao

Day 2 also begins at 9.30 am on 21 April with Prateesha Suresh continuing her workshop on movement techniques in Sattriya. The second half will see a seminar on Legacy in Classical Dance moderated by Geeta Chandran. The Young Dancers festival sarting 6.30 pm features Mohiniyattam by Thomas Vo Van Tao and Bharatanatyam by Meera Sreenarayanan.

Meera Sreenarayanan

Not to be missed!