Annapurna Indian Dance: The Commonwealth Queen - The Courtyard
Saturday 4th June
4:30pm
Free Entry
Join us on Saturday afternoon for a very special traditional dance from Indian Dance Company Annapurna as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
As part of Queen’s Platinum Jubile events, Annapurna are presenting various traditional Indian dance and music events across Calderdale, welcoming everyone to join them in celebrating the Queen’s 70th year as monarch. All the events are free, and all are welcome.
The project is called the Commonwealth Queen, and has been created in association with the Platinum Jubilee Fune, Arts Council England and the Community Foundation for Calderdale to celebrate the Queen’s long-standing involvement with the Commonwealth of Nations and its core values of respect, tolerance, and understanding.
We are delighted to be a part of this project, which celebrates the Commonwealth, unique association of 54 equal member states, and 2.4 billion people spanning six continents. India is a founding member of the modern Commonwealth, and home over half of Commonwealth citizens.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the Commonwealth, and though her role carries no formal functions, the Queen has great symbolic significance and has helped to strengthen the sense of the Commonwealth as a family of nations.
Artists involved in the project include: Santosh Menon, Yogindra Maravante, Vijay Venkat, Reshma Nair, Pratap Ramachandran, Sanju Sahai, and Jaymini Sahai. The project is curated by Shantha Rao, artistic director at Annapurna.
Annapurna offers enjoyable and imaginative Indian dance programmes with a vision to achieve harmony and understanding between people of different cultures through Indian dance.
The company aims to introduce the rich artistic and cultural heritage of India through performances of graceful and rhythmic Indian dances and storytelling and is committed to working in the community with people of all ages and abilities.
They regularly work with Indian storytellers, musicians, puppeteers, percussionists, visual artists, international Indian composters, and choreographers, and produces vibrant dance projects using the best-loved stories from Indian mythology. Annapurna regualarly tour their productions and perform in theatres and at destivals.
Annapurna’s main dance form is drawn from an ancient classical style called Bharata Natyam which is famous for its crisp rhythmic footwork and telling stories using stylised facial expressions and beautifully intricate hand gestures. Depending on the project, other styles are also used especially Kathak, folk, and creative.
Join us from 4:30pm in the Courtyard for a talk from Annapurna, followed by a performance.