April 27th, 2010
Weekends, party, aaram are all synonymous terms, aren’t they?
Hmm but last month, its weekends, was a little different for us here at Nritarutya. The entire team traveled to perform at two very famous venues.
Even with its radically different environments they equally had a supportive climate for art and dance.
Spaces, their cultures and the conversations with audiences are like the rewards and the reasons….
Wisdom tree
At FTII [marking their 50th year celebration], history and heritage of film making continue living. Actors, directors technicians ..over the years, they unwrap guild of artistses. Mundane arrangements, formality, programmed minds make way for bold artistic choices.
At Auroville, there is the right recipe for harmonious integration. Mix of cultural roots of people exerts an influence on its peaceful co-existence. The energy is pure and revitalizing.
Body finds different connection to the spaces around it-
While we got a beautiful auditorium-Bharatinivas to perform in, otherwise green nature filled Auroville, in FTII, it was open air; the entire stage was constructed around the significant Shantaram pond -where scenes of Navrang’s Holi dance/Kaminey’s shaadi song were also shot 
And its audiences: Our representation of dance ideas to respective audience…exposed existence of diff types of dance culture and taste of dance audience. Though both had high artistic quotients..their reception of dance and its enjoyment was evidently diverse. From respectful silence as appreciation at Auroville to youthful cheers and tweets at FTII…we loved them all.
When you make a dance, it’s basically about engaging with other human beings …Touring around Auroville, learning about the simple philosophy of life, engaged every bit of me from within and to its surrounding. The essence of Aurobindo and Mataji still breathes in every living tree, especially their Matri Mandir…its to experience!!
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with legendary Indonesian Choreographer-Sardona.W.Kusumo [center
Memorable moments at FTII doubled post performance in conversation with creative minds; relaxation under their famous Wisdom tree, meeting significant film makers from Mani Kaul to Anurag Kashyup, watching films in their archive centre , tour of Prabhat studio and areas around, their canteen etc etc. Both these trips set aside very enriching experiences for us.
Riju and Naveen Padmanabh-our organisers
Ranga,Kritika,Chakravarthy, Santa-our students' team
