Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance Outdoors 2012

IAAC's Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance was launched by the Indo-American Arts Council in 2008 to promote Indian dance in New York City, the global capital for dance. It is a premier event that brings to New York Indian and India-inspired dance in an array of forms, old and new: concerts feature performances traditional and experimental, classical and post-modern, folk and popular. The festival has been known to bring to the New York City audience, a range of Indian dance performances from traditional and classical to modern.

"Each August now brings one of the highlights of the New York dance calendar in, of all places, the Financial District at lunchtime: namely, the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance open-air performance......presented by the Indo-American Arts Council.
What makes it marvelous isn't necessarily the quality of the dance (the event is an anthology of Indian styles) or the authenticity of its delivery (most of the music is taped and considerably amplified) but its sheer incongruity. You see people of various races stopping in their tracks to watch, or gazing down from their office windows, while dancers in traditional Indian costume perform dances from the other side of the world, against a backdrop of New York skyscrapers and a soundscape of urban noise........The event's other great virtue is its diversity of styles, new and old, and deriving from different geographical regions. And since few of us in the West see a great deal of any Indian dance form, it all adds to our collective knowledge. "Alastair Macaulay, New York Times

For three decades, in an act The New York Times describes as one of "singular generosity," Battery Dance Company has offered the Downtown Dance Festival, the city's longest-running free public dance festival. The 31st annual iteration of the festival will take place over eight days this year, August 11-17, with performances at the Lawn at Battery Park and One New York Plaza. One of the highlights of the festival is the 5th edition of Erasing Borders of Indian Dance Outdoors has been curated by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) and will be presented on Friday, August 17.

The program will include Bageshree Vaze performing Kathak; Jaikishore & Padmavani Mosilikanti performing Kuchipudi, Mayuri Dance Company presenting Bhangra, Sonali Skandan & Jiva Dance performing Bharata Natyam alongside the Chhau Dance Company sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The Indo-American Arts Council gratefully acknowledges its partnership with The Battery Dance Company and the Downtown Dance Festival, and generous support provided by Applecore Hotels and the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations).

SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES

Friday, August 17

12:00 P.M. - 2:00 P.M.

One New York Plaza (Water and Whitehall Streets)

By Subway: 1 to South Ferry, R to Whitehall, 4/5 to Bowling Green

5th Edition of the IAAC Erasing Borders of Indian Dance Festival

Bageshree Vaze - Kathak (Toronto, Canada)

Jaikishore & Padmavani Mosilikanti - Kuchipudi (Chennai, India)

Mayuri Dance Group - Bhangra (Petrozavodsk, Russia)

Sonali Skandan & Jiva Dance - Bharata Natyam (New York City)

Chhau Dance Group - Chhau (New Delhi, India)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jaikishore Mosalikanti & Padmavani Mosalikanti
Sri Mosalikanti Jaikishore, the son of violinist Sri M.S. Rao, was trained by Padmabhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam, of the Kuchipudi Art Academy, Chennai, for 18 years. He went on to receive accolades from critics and dance lovers for his technical perfection, flexibility, character transformations, choreography,performances, and teaching. Jaikishore was awarded the title of Natya Vishaarada by Kuchipudi Arts Academy in March 1999, and the title of 'Yuva Kala Vipanchee by the Vipanchee Trust headed by Padma Vibhushan Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna in December 2004. His dances include over thirty solos, several thematic presentations, and dance dramas. Padmavani Mosalikanti Vani, wife and disciple of Sri Kishore, trained initially in Kuchipudi under Sri M.S.R. Murthy at Kuchipudi Kalakendra, Mumbai, and has a MFA in Kuchipudi dance from Telugu University, Hyderabad. She has performed all over India and is known for her portrayal of Sathya Bhama in the dance drama Sri Krishna Parijatham. Since her marriage in 2002, she has been dancing, teaching, and wielding the cymbals as an integral member of their dance team. The couple recently completed a tour in Russia.

Mayuri Dance Group
Mayuri Indian dance group was founded by Vera Evgrafova, in 1987, at the Railway Workers Cultural Centre of Petrozavodsk, Russia. Its purpose was to unify people interested in the culture and traditions of India. While parallel training in various dance styles is not commonly accepted in India, training at Mayuri includes Bhataranatyam and Kathak as well as folk dances and dances to filmi music. Mayuri have stagedseveral innovative productions in Eastern Europe, India and elsewhere, and their repertoire consists of over 150 dances in different styles.

Sonali Skandan & Jiva Dance
Sonali Skandan, Artistic Director of Jiva Performing Arts, is a disciple of C.V. Chandrasekhar of Chennai, India, and also trains with Bragha Bessell. She had initial training with Thejeswini Raj. Skandan has presented solo and group works at the United Nations, Toronto InternationalDance Festival, DanceNow Festival, the Asian American Dance Festival in SanFrancisco, Chennai Music and Dance Festival and Natyanjali Festival in India. Her productions include Urban Kutcheri, Bharatanatyam Margam, Swarupa: Infinite Form and Trimurti-Bharatanatyam Odissi and Kathak commissioned by Sruti - Pennsylvania. Skandan is on the dance faculty at Sarah Lawrence College and has given lecture demonstrations and workshops for Young Artists and Rubin Museum of Art. She holds a Masters degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has been instrumental in starting The Heritage School, in Manhattan.

Bageshree Vaze
Bageshree Vaze is a native of Pune, India and was raised in Canada. She trained in Bharatha Natyam, and studied vocal music with her father, Damodar Vaze. She later trained in Kathak with Pandit Jai Kishan Maharaj in New Delhi, and studied vocal music with Veena Sahasrabuddhe. Named a "rising star" by MTV India in 2004, Vaze has four CDs to her credit, including Tarana, an album of music for Indian dance, which was also released in India by Times Music. She has served as guest artist with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, performed as a Kathak soloist in Pt. Birju Maharaj's Vasantotsav festival in New Delhi. She was awarded the 2010 K.M. Hunter Award in Dance. In 2012, her double bill Damaru/Mudra, was premiered at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. She recently completed a new album, Ragas and Rhythms.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
The IAAC (Indo-American Arts Council) supports all the artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of the Indian subcontinent. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to help artists and art organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists from India to exhibit, perform and produce their work here. The IAAC presents annual festivals of film (NYIFF), Dance (EB), and Playwrights; an annual travelling EB Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art; as well as several book launches, theatrical performances and music concerts. The IAAC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. For further information please visit .

About the Downtown Dance Festival: Established by Battery Dance Company in 1982, the Downtown Dance Festival (DDF) is New York City's longest-running free public dance festival and represents the Company's commitment to making the arts accessible to all. The Downtown Dance Festival provides an opportunity for both established and emerging companies to present original works of high artistic merit in a free public forum. Battery Dance Company has invited the Indo-American Arts Council to curate one day each year as part of the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance. This year, 2 weeks of master classes will be offered, August 3 - 16, at Dance New Amsterdam as part of the DDF. (Schedule TBA)

About Battery Dance Company: Battery Dance Company connects the world through dance. The Company pursues artistic excellence and social relevance by creating vibrant new works, performing on the world's stages, presenting dance in public spaces, serving the field of dance and teaching people of all ages with special attention to disadvantaged and conflict areas. Battery Dance Company is committed to enhancing the cultural vibrancy of its home community in New York City, extending programming throughout the U.S. and building bridges worldwide through international cultural exchange. For the past 36 years Battery Dance Company has performed locally, nationally and internationally as well as conducting its signature arts education program, Dancing to Connect, in over 54 countries on 5 continents. More information can be found at www.batterydance.org.

For more information, please contact