Just published in India Currents Magazine!
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| Image Courtesy of Santa Dasu Kondapalli |
“People consider performing
for Yuva Bharati an honor… and creativity and innovation in dance can only come
through new choreography,” says Santa Dasu, one of the founders of Yuva
Bharati. Yuva Bharati’s upcoming event,
Kalpana, features senior and accomplished dancers from across the Bay Area in
four different classical forms. “With
Kalpana, we are taking great local talent with great ideas for choreography and
providing a venue for creativity. Our
performers may have studied in India or studied here, but each are given the
opportunity to choreograph a new 10 minute item, and we encourage groups to
perform,” says Tejaswi Kondapalli, co-coordinator of Kalpana and recipient of a
Fulbright Fellowship to study Tarangams and Kuchipudi dance in Hyderabad.
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| Image Courtesy of Santa Dasu Kondapalli |
“Kalpana means ‘creativity’
and the basic premise is to give opportunities to young and upcoming Indian
classical dancers. Traditional pieces
are handed down generation after generation, and some can be 200 years old. Young artists don’t have space to showcase
their own choreography… and we give them a chance,” says Ganesh Vasudeva, dancer
and co-coordinator of Kalpana. Solo
artists, including Rasika Kumar, and groups from across the Bay Area are
preparing Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Kathak pieces for Kalpana. “Schools
were writing us, asking us to give their students a chance to choreograph and
perform. We approached senior dancers in
the community and asked them to perform, then held an application process for
post-arangetram dancers,” says Vasudeva.
“I’ve seen this from the start, and we’ve had so many calls and so many
applications,” says Kondapalli. “Lots of people think this is a competition,
but it’s not a competition. It’s a way
to showcase local choreography. There is
no other such event, in the Bay Area or anywhere else,” concludes Kondapalli.
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| Image Courtesy of Santa Dasu Kondapalli |
Kalpana is sponsored by Yuva
Bharati, a non-profit dedicated to supporting local dancers in classical Indian
forms. “When we started Yuva Bharati,
there was no organization promoting classical Indian dance. There were all these arangetrams, but
afterward no chance to perform. Dancers
need a chance to perform on a proper stage with proper lighting” explains Dasu. Yuva Bharati hosts multiple events, including
bringing an artist from India each year, but remains committed to supporting
classical dancers within the US. “We
are constantly scouting for talent, bringing people from Dallas, Houston,
Seattle, Chicago, New Jersey, and across California” says Dasu. “We wanted to
take dancers post-arangetram and advanced performers interested in taking their
dancing to the next level. We bring in
talent from all over,” says Kondapalli.
“Since its founding in 2006,
Yuva Bharati has sponsored 30 senior dancers with twenty to twenty-five years
of experience and provided 70 dancers post-arangetram with the opportunity to
perform. People consider it an honor to
perform with Yuva Bharati,” explains Kondapalli. “We have sponsors and memberships, but the
organization is totally volunteer run.
We have about 20 volunteers per event, and our 30 volunteers put in over
1,000 volunteer hours per year,” explains Dasu.
“We also provide a video archive of performances on our website and once
a week our performances are broadcast on a local channel,” explains Kondapalli.
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| Image Courtesy of Santa Dasu Kondapalli |
Kalpana provides a stage as
well as visibility for highly trained dancers and professionals alike. Kalpana also offers these performers the
opportunity to create something entirely novel and individual within a very
classical form. “We have amazing dancers
with a unique perspective and creative thinking. It is hard to get this many different points
of view in a single concert. To grow as
a dancer one should watch other dancers and learn,” says Vasudeva. To see Kalpana is an opportunity to enter the
tight-knit community of Bay Area performers, the opportunity to both appreciate
and learn. “We have people with new choreography and a venue to explore
whatever they want. It’s not just mythological
or religious, it only has to be within the confines of classical dance. There’s the chance to see new choreography
that you haven’t seen when you go to other shows,” concludes Kondapalli.
Kalpana, A Choreographic Showcase
Presenting new choreographies in Bharatanatyam,
Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Kathak
August 3, 4:00 pm
Mission City Center for Performing Arts
3250 Monroe Street, Santa Clara
Tickets $15
www.yuvabharati.org
