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 Kathak Dance
 Performances & Events
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Performances & Events
Sackler Museum
Harvard University, 2006
A Kathak Story
March 2007
Visiting dancer Anjali Nath
Sackler Museum 2006
Events in italics are open to the public
Upcoming Events
Kathak Weekend Intensive
Saturday-Sunday, Feb 13-14, 2010
Walker Memorial Hall, MIT
A full weekend of intense dance practice for Chhandika adults and teens.
Kathak Day for Young Dancers
Saturday, March 13, 2010
9 am to 3 pm
First Parish Church, Bedford, MA
A full day of intense dance practice for Chhandika students ages 7-15.
Master class with Pandit Chitresh Das
Monday, April 26 evening
(exact time and location TBA)
A special class for Chhandika students with Pandit Chitresh Das, guru to Gretchen Hayden.
"Celebrate the Artist" Pandit Chitresh Das
Kathak dance master, innovator and pioneer
Wednesday, April 28, 7 pm
Springstep Center for Dance
Free and open to the public.
Please join us as we celebrate the artistic and cultural contributions of Chitresh Das. He will be our guest of honor as we present a thirty-year video retrospective of his traditional solos and innovative choreography. He will be on hand to speak about his life and his artistic process, leading up to his most recent India Jazz Suites production.
In the lead-up to the India Jazz Suites performance (see below), Pandit Chitresh Das will be in residency with Chhandika, offering classes with Chhandika students and events open to the public.
India Jazz Suites
April 30, May 1, May 2 2010, Boston
India Jazz Suites, featuring Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith, is an explosive collaboration between one of India's foremost kathak masters and one of the world's fastest, Emmy award-winning tap dancers. The result is high entertainment which crosses all boundaries of age, race and culture--a blast of incredible speed and power, grace and beauty, epic storytelling and the pure joy of dance.
After premiering in San Francisco in 2005, India Jazz Suites has received critical acclaim and has toured around the US and India. It was chosen as the #1 Dance Performance of 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle and won the prestigious Isadora Duncan Dance Award (Izzie) for Best Ensemble Performance of the year.
Click here to view a trailer.
At the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.
Friday, April 30: 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 1: 8:00 pm
Sunday, May 2: 3:00 pm
Tickets:$40 (Reserved Seating)
Traditions Engaged: International Festival and Symposium
Classical Indian Dance in Contemporary Contexts
San Francisco, September 2010
In celebration of its 30th anniversary and expansion in India, the Chitresh Das Dance Company (CDDC) & Chhandam School (US) in collaboration with its sister organization Chhandam Nritya Bharati (India) will present Traditions Engaged, international festival and symposium on Indian classical dance and music. Traditions Engaged will be an historic event bringing together master and emerging artists, scholars, leaders, critics, presenters and funders to explore the role and relevance of India's traditional classical dance and music forms in a global world.
Recent Events
Kathak Enhancement Workshop: Listening to and Appreciating Indian Classical Music
One of the essential components in a kathak dancer's development is knowledge of Indian Classical music. On December 6th, George Ruckert, Senior Lecturer in Music at MIT and senior disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, guided participants through a listening session of a variety of Indian classical music samplings. He provided insights into what to listen for, how to listen critically, and the nuances of different styles.
Gala Performance
On November 7th, 2009, five Chhandika students (Rucha Khisti, Meenakshi Agrawal, Shefali Jain, Justine Watt and Shelley Chhabra) performed for an enthusiastic audience at the American India Foundation's annual gala at the Hyatt hotel in Cambridge.
Kathak Immersion Day
On November 7th, 2009, Chhandika students participated in a full-day program, including intense dance practice, videos and discussions of the establishment in the US and the continuing legacies of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod maestro who passed away in June) and Pandit Chitresh Das (kathak guru to Gretchen Hayden).
Festival Workshop
On October 11th, 2009, Rucha Khisti and Anjali Mitter Duva offered a kathak workshop to a group of attendees at the Association for India's Development's festival on the MIT campus, in celebration of the Indian artistic and cultural heritage present in the Greater Boston area.
Children's Summer Art Program
On August 27th, 2009, Shefali Jain performed at the New Art Center in Newton, for the India-themed week of the Children's Summer Art Program.
Taking Healthy Steps
On August 26th, 2009, Gretchen Hayden contributed to the Boston Ballet's "Taking Healthy Steps" education and outreach program, designed for female middle school students of the Boston Public Schools.
Performance and Workshop for all ages
On Saturday, July 11 2009, 10: 30 am to noon, at the SpringStep Center for Dance, children, parents, grandparents and everyone in between enjoyed the experience of the exquisitely dynamic North Indian classical dance form kathak. Gretchen Hayden and youth performers from Chhandika lead the children and adults alike along a path of exploration through kathak footwork, movements, intricate rhythms, clapping patterns, hand gestures, and dramatic story-telling expressions.
Performance and lecture-demonstration
Tuesday, May 26th at 7pm, visiting kathak dancer Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, of the Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company, presented a performance and lecture-demonstration at the Springstep Center for Dance.
Kaliya's Tale
Annual Student Show and Dance Drama
Sunday, May 17 2009 at 2:00 pm in McDevitt Middle School, Waltham, MA, Chhandika and Artistic Director Gretchen Hayden presented Greater Boston area's only annual kathak dance show, featuring sixty or so of our students. The show included a youth dance drama - the famed story of Krishna and Kaliya the serpent, with music contributed by George Ruckert and Jerry Leake. The show brought together elements of kathak tradition - storytelling, Indian mythology, compositions passed down through generations, and elements of kathak modernity - choreography, multicultural dancers, group compositions.
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