festival/interview THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024 | BENGALURU

culture

curtain raiser

SPATIALLY SOUND!
Srjan Dance Troupe

NCPA@thePark gears up
for its first edition outside
Mumbai, in namma Bengaluru…

T
H E NAT I O NA L
CENTRE for the
Perfor ming Arts
(NCPA) in Mumbai
is known for its rich
cultural heritage and diverse
perfor mances. They launched
NCPA@thePark three years ago
as an initiative to rejuvenate live
performances and aimed to cel-
ebrate the return of live enter-
tainment to physical spaces,
marking a significant milestone
for the cultural landscape. From
Mumbai, they have now expand-
ed the NCPA@thePark series
to Bengaluru. It will feature an
array of live performances rang-
ing from dance, inter national
music, western classical music
and spoken word.
Day one kicks off with a per-
f o r m a n c e by t h e S y m p h o n y
Orchestra of India (SOI), fol-
lowed by UnErase Poetry, which
will be a blend of spoken word
and music. Day two will feature
renowned Srjan dance troupe,
led by Ratikant Mohapatra, who
will present Deesha – Navigating
t h e Jo u r n e y o f Fo rg i n g N e w
Horizons, a neo-classical odissi
perfor mance. This will be fol-
lowed by an electrifying set by
Darren Das & The Sixth Sense,
which will be a dynamic fusion
of pop, retro, rock ’n’ roll and
classic rock.We speak to Khu-
shroo N Suntook, the chairman
of NCPA and the co-founder of
SOI; and Swapnokolpa Dasgupta,
head of dance, NCPA to unravel
everything you need to know
about this upcoming festival.
“Odissi is a dance for m that
you don’ t g et to see much in
B e n g a l u r u . Yo u s e e m o re o f
bharatanatyam and kuchipudi.
So, while curating the perfor-
mance, I wanted to bring some-
thing to Bengaluru that I don’t
usually curate. I want to see if the
show creates more interest in the
young crowd that would be com-
ing or among parents of young
people,” begins Swapnokolpa.
Ta l k i n g a b o u t t h e p e r f o r-
mance, the curator says, “Since I
do not want to share details about
every piece, otherwise the charm
will go away, so I am going to let
you in on one particular scene.
There will be a lot of acrobatic
movements and human pyra-
mids, but there is also this one
magical play of light emulating
sunrise. We have done this par-
ticular choreography multiple
times in our theatre in NCPA but
somehow the walls of the theatre
confined the sun rays. Here, the
choreography is perfect because
the light can go undisturbed and
reach the ultimate level to which
it can spread.”
The perfor mance will have
new choreographies that have
n o t eve n b e e n p e r f o r m e d i n
Mumbai. “Even when we have the
same kind of choreography, it is
never the same. Indian classical
dance cannot have a set choreog-
Symphony Orchestra of India
raphy. So, even if you are watch-
ing the same production of an
Indian classical dance twice, you
will see remarkable changes,”
adds Swapnokolpa.
Following the perfor mance
in Bengaluru, Swapnokolpa is
gearing up for the Mudra Dance
Festival, which will be taking
place in April in Mumbai.
“Music in the park has been
a tradition in several parts of
the world, right from Japan to
America, where during sum-
mers, people gather together,
enjoy the climate, in very relaxed
surroundings and enjoy all sorts
of music like classical, jazz, pop
and lots more. And people could
be part of this at very low prices,
so it became very popular. We are
trying to bring back this culture,”
begins Khushroo.
W h e n a s ke d why h e ch o s e
Bengaluru as the next destination
after Mumbai, to bring NCPA@
the Park , Khushroo reveals, “It’s
a city that loves good art. It’s been
the garden city of India for years
Swapnokolpa Dasgupta
and I love it. It’s an ideal place
to start. Whenever we have per-
formed in Bengaluru, the crowd
has been appreciative. It’s a very
open city and it embraces every-
thing which is of good quality.”
The two-day festival is taking
place in Freedom Park and when
asked how they decided on the
location, Khushroo says that
Khushroo N Suntook
they always look for places that
have sufficient space. “The space
should be well-equipped and any-
body should be able to walk in,”
he adds.
Cur rently, SOI is looking to
spread its wings in India and
hopes to play in cities like Jaipur
and Udaipur next, which are per-
fect settings for an orchestra.
Entry free. March 30 and 31, 6 pm.
At Freedom Park, Gandhi Nagar.
— Alwin Benjamin Soji
alwin
@newindianexpress.com
@al_ben_so

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