Date: 11 July 2018
Venue: American Centre

American Center at Kasturba Gandhi Marg is holding an exhibition of archival photographs marking 70 years of diplomatic ties between India and America.  The exhibition is on till 14 August 2018 and shows archival photographs that date back to 1950s.

The event was inaugurated through a dance program ‘Dancing Stories from the East and West‘. Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance at Indiana University, and Tanya Saxena, a Bharatanatyam exponent collaborated in bring together some ensemble pieces. They danced solo pieces that reflected the vast differences in the contemporary style of Nyama and the traditional style of Tanya. Nyama’s pieces were an amalgamation of various world dance styles – African, Jazz, ballet, Indonesian, and other forms she has been exposed to. There was a lot of visible freedom in her movements. Her inaugural piece was based on the recent killing of African-American people in the USA. The interesting soundtrack carried Nyama’s voice and the sensitive presentation touched the hearts of all in the auditorium.

Tanya in turn followed the Bharatanatyam heritage. She was resplendent in traditional glory and presented a Saraswati Vandana. Her abhinaya was impeccable to say the least. While seeing both the styles we could see how they contrasted each other. Nyama’s steps were free and spontaneous while Tanya performed to traditional grammar of a pre-choreographed piece. Both styles had a unique appeal. The last piece had both the danseuse matching steps with each other with a fusion soundtrack. We appreciate the effort that the artists put in during this experiment.

This was an interesting evening – an event we don’t get to see often. Kudos to the 70 years of Indo-US diplomatic ties! We look forward to more collaborative events such as ‘Dancing Stories from the East and West’.