Dancers will current numerous sides of prakriti on the second South Asian Classical Dance Competition
Because the Colorado High quality Arts Affiliation (CFAA) prepares to host ‘Prakriti’, the second version of the annual South Asian Classical Dance Competition in Denver, founder Ajay Menon says, “We needed to adapt shortly to the altering surroundings and organise digital performances.”
Explaining the purpose behind this mega competition, which begins September 19, he provides, “Whereas Bollywood dance is huge in North America, Indian classical dance exhibits are nonetheless not fashionable. So, we wished to do one thing to showcase the wealthy cultural heritage of India and South Asia.”
This yr, greater than 50 dancers from 10 international locations will carry out 10 dance types. The competition will not be ticketed, and the plenary periods will characteristic senior artistes Alarmel Valli and Priyadarsini Govind.
CFAA began work on the theme of the 2020 version on the finish of final yr’s competition. Final yr’s occasion was ‘Yaathra – The Journey’ with the deal with the challenges of local weather change.
The lockdown has been each good and dangerous. Whereas the fest had to go surfing, Ajay says, “We additionally determined to develop the line-up as there have been no journey and boarding bills.”
The curatorial effort, in keeping with Ajay, has been to current numerous kinds and artistes from completely different international locations, particularly those that couldn’t be accommodated in earlier years resulting from monetary and logistic constraints. “We reached out to artistes throughout India and the U.S. We even have artistes from Singapore, Canada, Trinidad, France and the UAE.”
This version additionally affords a platform to up-and-coming classical dancers from North America. “Although we wished to incorporate Kandyan and Kathakali performaces, we couldn’t resulting from logistics points. Hope we will incorporate no matter we miss out this time within the third version,” says Ajay.
