City Schools Teaching Performing Arts Go Global
Don’t be surprised if a Japanese mesmerizes you with a Kathak performance or an American captivates you with a t a bl arecital!. Music and dance schools from Ahmedabad are testing international waters to reach out to foreign aspirants who have no qualms in giving in to India’s soft power.
Prominent Hindustani classical dance and music institutions of the city are now networking off shore in effort to widen their reach to learners abroad. Kadamb – centre for dance is reaching Tokyo, Aanart Foundation is going to Edmonton and Saptak is having “informal” associate hubs in Adelaide and Nice.
Kumudini Lakhia, Kathak dancer and choreographer, said, “We have recently formed an affiliate training centre at Tokyo which is run by Atsuko Maeda, 35, a Japanese student who was previously trained at Kadamb. Due to increasing interest in Indian classical dance forms overseas, we have been forming our affiliate training centers abroad which run our curriculum and later the students trained there come to Ahmedabad centre for specialised training. We have presence in New York, London, Portugal and Canada.”
Similarly, renowned Kathak dancers Maulik and Ishira Parikh too are enhancing their network to reach to enthusiasts overseas. They have their affiliate chapters at Los Angeles, London and at Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton in Canada. “Due to increase in number of aspirants abroad, we have recently added two chapters in Canada. We personally visit these centers and conduct 6 to 8 weeks workshops to give direct training to these students. Students at the chapters abroad are also trained by visiting faculties from Aanart.”
The art institutions are expanding their network with the help of their alumni settled abroad. Nihar Mehta, nephew of Saptak founder Late Nandan Mehta, said, “We have formed Association Saptak-India to promote Indian classical music in Europe. Pt Pooran Maharaj (tabla), Ustad Shahid Parvez (sitar), Partho Sarothy (sarod), Amarnath Mishra (sitar) and others take workshops held by the association in Nice, Florence, Turin, and Bologna in France. Due to rising demand, we have also started workshops of sitar and sarod.”
Manju Mehta of Saptak said, “We informally support these hubs set up abroad for cultural dissemination and spread of our music tradition. Students of Nandan Mehta, Josh Bennett and Jay Babgar, settled in Adelaide, have also started training learners in Australia recently with our support, which includes visits of artists and teaching faculties from here.”
