Redcat Presents Traditions Engaged: An Int'l Festival of Classical Indian Dance & Music

In celebration of their 30th anniversary the Chitresh Das Dance Company & Chhandam School (CDDC), in partnership with sister organization Chhandam Nritya Bharati in India, are pleased to present Traditions Engaged: An International Festival of Classical Indian Dance & Music to be held over three days at REDCAT in Los Angeles, October 8-10, 2010. Some of the world's leading Indian classical artists gather along with emerging practitioners for three days of unparalleled performances and cross-genre inquiry that shed new light on India's rich and diverse traditional dance forms.

Signature elements of dance, drama, and rhythm are brought to new heights by an international roster of artists that includes such luminaries as Kathak master and guru Pandit Chitresh Das, master percussionist Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Bharatanatyam gurus V. P. and Shanta Dhananjayan, Sri Ratikant Mohapatra (son of the great Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra), and many more--proclaiming the relevance, vitality, and elasticity of these centuries-old expressions. Das realizes that the performance of classical Indian music and dance does not by itself communicate its own complexity. Panel discussions during the Festival will take up this issue of communication and translation not only in the case of the Kathakali form, but many other classical forms as well: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, and so on.

"One of the principal aims of this festival is to showcase the great diversity and depth of Indian classical dance and music in a way that gives new perspectives on these traditions," says Founder and Artistic Director, Pandit Chitresh Das. "In a wider sense, though, the festival also aims to provide a forum for discussing the function of traditional arts within contemporary and cosmopolitan settings. For some 'tradition' is a liability," adds Das. "The word can conjure up images of things stale, static, backward, or perhaps merely foreign and exotic. These characterizations, however, obscure tradition's enduring if sometimes mysterious beauty and its timeless body of knowledge--be it technical, historical, or spiritual."

"[Chitresh Das] has opened new avenues to his form," heralds the Hindustan Times, calling him "...a phenomenon." For Pandit Das the passing on of India's traditional art forms is a way to empower future generations. He founded Chhandam, one of the world's largest Indian classical dance institutions with six Bay Area and two Los Angeles locations and 450 students. With academies in Kolkata and Mumbai, Das shares his time between India and the U.S. to teach Kathak to, among others, the daughters of sex workers who have been taken out of the red light district. His disciples have opened schools in North America in Boston and Ottawa, Canada.

"Something I wish to impart to future generations is the power of dance to develop self-awareness and confidence--and to communicate the feelings we have," says Das. "In the classical Indian tradition, though, it is also an important form of storytelling and a way of personalizing wisdom from the past."

Traditions Engaged: An International Festival of Classical Indian Dance & Music is presented at REDCAT on Friday October 8, 2010 and runs through Sunday, October 10, 2010. Curtain for performances on Friday and Saturday is 7:30 pm with a Sunday performance at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $35 general admission and $55 VIP ($25 for students with current I.D.) and are available at redcat.org or by calling 213 237-2800. REDCAT is located at the corner of W. 2nd and Hope Streets, inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

The performances at REDCAT are funded in part with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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