PRE-EVENT: 26 and 27 April - Natya Vriksha’s World Dance Day weekend is back!

 The Natya Vriksha World Dance Day celebrations are back to mitigate this unseasonably hot April with cooling showers of natya, rasa and dance learning.

In a Facebook video for Narthaki.com, NV founder-president Geeta Chandran explained why they felt a need to start organizing this utsav on World Dance Day (in collaboration with India International Centre Delhi) 18 years ago: ‘I felt that the dance community was fragmented and there were festivals associated with a particular style or dimension of the art. But (there was a need) to bring together the community with all aspects of dance – workshops, seminars, films, young dancers festival – put us on the same page to work towards excellence in dance… It has been an excellent journey with doyens like Kapila Vatsyayan, Kumudini Lakhia, Mrinalini Sarabhai, Yamini Krishnamurthy – whom we have lost over the years – who came and spoke their minds with us and gave us valuable insights into their lives. We’ve had a host of young dancers who’ve shared their art with us and have gone on to become legends in their own fields. As for the seminars, we are always concerned with what’s happening to dance and where we are going with our precious art forms. We have always brainstormed, we’ve had great minds discussing and arguing about dance. We have screened films and held workshops across all disciplines, not even just classical dance. Various people have shared their work with a host of  young dancers, not just from Delhi but from other cities as well. It has been a gratifying experience to curate this over 18 years. It has been a challenge as well because it takes a lot of money. It’s a labour of love. We’ve put in our penny where we feel it should and so the World Dance Day means the world to us.’ 

The Natya Vriksha WDD celebrations will be held on 26 and 27 April 2025, Saturday and Sunday, at IIC Delhi.

Day 1, 26 April

9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Movement workshop by the legendary Tanushree Shankar

4 p.m. – Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Kiran Seth, founder, SPICMACAY
followed by
Lecture: Embodying Histories: Dance, Choreography and Narrative by Dr. Jeff Friedman, Dance Studies Scholar, Rutgers University; Fulbright Specialist at the Department Art, Media and Performance, SHSS; Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence

Young Dancers Festival
6:30 p.m. – Madhura Bhrushundi, Bharatanatyam
7:45 p.m. – Dheerendra Tiwari, Kathak

Day 2, 27 April

9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Movement workshop by the legendary Tanushree Shankar

4.15 p.m. –  ‘AVATARANA – The Story of Natya’, a theatrically witty retelling of a 2500-year-old saga, scripted and performed by Ramaa Bharadvaj

Young Dancers Festival
6:30 p.m. – Abhinaya Nagajothy, Kuchipudi
7:45 p.m. – Shashwati Garai Ghosh, Odissi

If you are in Delhi, please reserve this weekend for rasa and learning in dance!