 |
Launch
of Kala-2002, The Performing Arts of India
For the second year running, Kala-2002, an exciting
programme of contemporary and traditional performing
arts from India is being showcased at the Edinburgh
International and Fringe Festival. This festival
of performing arts from India, featuring varied
performing arts forms, represented by 16 arts groups
and 160 artistes from across the country will present
performances and workshops across the UK covering
over 10 cities including London, Edinburgh, Manchester,
Birmingham and more and will be viewed by over 220,000
people in over 200 shows.
Kala 2002 is presented by Teamwork Films in association
with ICCR, Visiting Arts, Ministry of Tourism and
Culture, British Council and Apeejay Surrendra Group,
Edinburgh City Council, Scottish Arts Council, Jubilant
Organsys among others. |
This year will see a number of firsts:
For the first time since 1964, India will find a major
presence at the Edinburgh Intemationa! Festival with a
program of Indian Classical dance and music by the maestros
including Birju Maharaj, Raja & Radha Reddy, Guru
Singhajit Singh, Charu Mathur Madhavi Mudgal, Bharti Shivaji,
Malvika Sarukkai, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Amjad All Khan
and Shruti Sadolikar.
The first retrospective of an Indian actor - Shahrukh
Khan joins the ranks of Sean Connery and Marlon Brando
to be showcased at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
After a gap of 30 years, India is being represented at
the Edinburgh Tattoo this year, in a special program to
mark Her Majesty, the Queen's Jubilee. The Edinburgh Military
Tattoo is one of the world's greatest outdoor annual spectacles
- a unique blend of music, ceremony, entertainment and
theatre set against the backdrop of historic Edinburgh
Castle. Conceived and performed in 1950 as the Army in
Scotland's contribution to the Edinburgh Intemationa!
Festival, the event has grown to now feature 25 consistently
sold out performances with an international audience of
8,600 per performance totalling 2,20,000 each year. BBC
broadcasts the event to 6 million in U.K. and an estimated
100 million worldwide. About 30 nations participate in
the event.
India is showcasing at the Tattoo this year "The
Sword, Spear and the Drum", a stunning spectacle
of martial artists (Thang-Ta), and Drum Dances of Manipur
(Pung Cholom and Dhol Cholom) presented by the J.N. Manipur
Dance Academy Ensemble. Produced by Bangalore based, Arts
Umbrella, an arts consultancy providing arts and
cultural management services to artists and arts organisations
headed by Geetha Rao , this
presentation is also billed at the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe, the world's largest arts festival. Workshops in
Thang-Ta and Pung Cholom and Dhol Cholom are scheduled
at Dance Base, Scotland's National Dance Centre. The Arts
Umbrella presentation is sponsored by the Department
of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations and supported by Visiting
Arts, UK's national agency for promoting the flow of international
arts into the UK.
This initiative of Arts Umbrella
was the outcome of Geetha Rao
being invited by Visiting Arts, UK, to a visit and seminar
at Edinburgh during the Edinburgh International and Fringe
Festivals last year. The purpose of the week of activities
in Scotland was to provide practitioners from India with
opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with UK counterparts
so as to develop contacts that may engender future collaborations.
It also aimed to familiarize participants with specific
elements of arts and cultural management practices in
UK.
Geetha Rao met with Brigadier
M. Jameson, Producer of the Military Tattoo and presented
a proposal of showcasing the dynamic martial arts of Manipur,
in keeping with the military theme. She accompanied Brigadier
Jameson to Manipur, where the act was finalized. The Department
of Tourism sponsored the travel of the artistes, thereby
facilitating India's participation. |
