Building bridges through art forms

The sixth edition of Bengaluru International Arts Festival will take place from September 20 to October 6 across various venues in the City. The festival is curated by veena maestro Suma Sudhindra and kuchipudi exponent Veena Murthy Vijay and aims to produce harmony through the arts.

From traditional and contemporary dance forms to folk music to theatre, the festival has it all! “Harmony has always been our theme because international festivals are all about building bridges and creating unity among nations through culture and arts,” said Suma Sudhindra at a press conference on Wednesday.

The inaugural programme at NGMA will include a contemporary dance by Preeti Sunderajan, a chhau dance by Pandit Gopal Prasad Dubey and a Sri Lankan folk dance by Tilak Fernando and troupe. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan will witness ‘Tear Drops on Dust’ on September 27, a unique collaboration of kathak and flamenco. As part of the ‘Bangalore Literature Festival’ at Crowne Plaza, a violin duet concert by Mysore M Nagaraj and Dr Manjunath will take place on the same day.

Other interesting programmes to look forward to are a dance troupe from Mauritius and the bhaavatarangam bharatanatyam dance by The Dhananjayans. One of the festival highlight is Ganga Gowri Vilasam, a dance drama by Veena Murthy Vijay which is choreographed in bharata-natyam and kuchipudi. What makes it unique is the fact that it’s a yakshagana script and was written by Kempegowda. Prakash Belawadi will also premiere his latest theatre production titled ‘The Importance of being Draupadi’, written by Krishnan Rangaraju, on October 5. The grand finale will be a treat for the eyes and ears with Naadatarangini, a 50-veena ensemble led by Suma Sudhindra, performing. Entry is free. For details, call 9980327800.