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Pravah, a classical dance festival featuring internationally acclaimed dancers from within India, starts at Kala Academy from October 25

Herald Team

On October 25, the Goan audience will be enthralled by expressive facial gestures and soulful dance moves of veteran dancer and choreographer Revathi Ramachandran. Along with Revathi, adding more magic to the show will be Kolkata based artist Vikram Iyengar and other artistes. The Kala Academy Goa in collaboration with India International Rural Cultural Centre, New Delhi is all set to host a 2-day classical dance festival, ‘Pravah’, which literally means, ‘flow’, at the Dinanath Mangeshkar Kala Mandir. After the inauguration of the festival on October 25 at the hands of Sushant Khedekar, Vice Chairman of Kala Academy in the presence of P L Verma, Member Secretary of India International Rural Cultural Centre, New Delhi, a Bharatanatyam dance recital by Revathi Ramchandran and troupe from Chennai promises to mesmerise the audience with their stellar performance. The second day of the festival will witness Kolkata based artist Vikram Iyengar and troupe of Ranan Dance Company (West Bengal) stage Kathak dance in group choreography.

Revathi Ramchandran

Revathi Ramchandran is a versatile dancer and choreographer who has availed her training from Guru Kathak Maestro Mangudi Dorairaja Iyer. Revathi is a bharatanatyam dancer of national repute and has performed at various prestigious dance festivals in India and also performed abroad in the US, Canada, France, Singapore, Rome and Malaysia. She has also performed in film, in ‘A Poetry of Dance’ produced by Lakshmi Vishwanathan who has taught her Abhinaya and was granted a fellowship by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. She has done research on Bhagavatha Mela Natakams. Revathi is also the Advisory Council Member of IDA (International Dance Alliance) which interacts with the artistes across the globe. She has established Kala Sadhanalaya – a dance school to nourish young talent towards the sublime heights of Bharatanatyam. In this festival, Revathi will present a Bharatanatyam dance concert along with co-dancers Manasvini Ramchandran, Nanditha  Rajasekhar, Madhuvanty Sekar, Sakthi B C, Divya Arumugham, Bhavana Sridhar and Saindhavi Venugopal.

Vikram Iyengar

Vikram Iyengar is an acclaimed Kathak dance exponent from West Bengal and dance co-coordinator of Ranan Dance Company Kolkata. He has given stage performances in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Moscow, Qatar and Bhutan. Iyengar holds a Sangeet Prabhakar from Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad. An INLAKS scholar with an MA in Performing Arts from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Iyengar has taught Asian and Intercultural Theatre at MA levels in the UK, contributed articles to various publications, presented papers at international seminars, conducted a variety of workshops and worked on several arts research projects for institutions in India and abroad. Noted for the conscious bringing together of classical dance, movement and drama creating an experience of complete  theatre, Vikram’s production work spans choreography for stage and film, dance, theatre, film explorations and performance collaborations with several performance directors in Europe. In this dance festival, Vikram Iyengar along with Debashree Bhattacharya, Sohini Debnath, Samila Bhattacharya, Rhea Dawn and Surangama Majumdar will stage Kathak dance choreography.

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