Kuchipudi Festival enthralls London
Arunima Kumar Dance Company (AKDC) in association with Bhavan UK, Infosys foundation, Arts council England, HDFC and The Nehru Centre presented the Kuchipudi Dance Festival 2018 at The Bhavan London. This was a landmark event in Britain. It showcased 60 inter-generational Indian classical dancers from the age of 4-60 years from across Britain and Europe, making it the largest festival of Kuchipudi dance in the region.
The festival was curated by Arunima Kumar, Britain’s most acclaimed award winning Kuchipudi dancer. It presented a revival of traditional forms, with Britain’s first locally trained Stree vesham (where a man dresses up and performs a female role) artist and acclaimed dancer Ash Mukherjee performing. The Vachika Abhinaya was performed by scholar, dancer and professor Dr. Avanthi Meduri. The Tharangam was performed by Arunima Kumar and her brilliant students.
The festival included special performances by youth groups of other classical forms – Ananda Arts Bedford (Odissi) , Nupur Arts Leicester who performed Kuchipudi, Bhavan Centre students , AKDC students and guest artists Ranjitha Chowaloor, Archna Patel, Pragnya Dara, Aishwarya Kandukuri and International Natarang Group from Poland – Zofia Lichota, Kornelya ,Magda and Gosha .
Present at the event was Minister Rishi Sunak, Lord Gadhia, Dr NandaKumar, Pam Johnson (Arts council), Anita Srivastava (New Dimension Arts), Eva Martinez (Sadlers Wells), Akshata Murty, actor and singer Raageshwari. The festival received a standing ovation.
Here and Now 365‘s Managing Director Manish Tiwari also gave a scholarship to young 11 year old Sahasra Bhongirwar for her dedication to Kuchipudi.