A contemporary dance festival comes to town

New and old performances, panel discussions and an awards ceremony are in store

A not-for-profit organisation from Chennai is hosting its long-standing biennial dance event for the first time in Bengaluru. You can watch contemporary dance, from works-in-progress to complete pieces, participate in panel discussions, and attend an awards ceremony at different venues from April 20 to 23.

This itinerary is part of the Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards (PECDA), a pan-India open-entry competition of works in progress for contemporary choreographers. It is held by Prakriti Foundation, an arts and culture organisation based out of Chennai, and was constituted in 2012.

Bengaluru has a thriving number of contemporary dancers and spaces to showcase them, festival coordinator Meera Krishnan explains the decision to hold the fifth and current edition of PEDCA here. “We will also organise the next edition of PECDA in Bengaluru before taking it to another city, like Kolkata or Pune,” she adds. This, they hope, will give exposure to communities of contemporary dancers in different cities and build the ecosystem further.

The festival received 57 applications, of which, 18 have been shortlisted for showcase and judging. These include two works from Bengaluru — Parth Bharadwaj’s ‘Within line’ and Ainesh Madan’s ‘Second dance song (part 1)’. The shortlisted works are a reflection of our times, feels Meera, as political upheaval, pandemic experiences, and gender bias are common themes. “Most works are either solo or duet,” she points to a new trend, a commentary on how lockdowns affected artistic collaborations.

Unlike previous editions, this year’s PECDA includes an element of pre-mentorship. As always, the winner will bag a fund of Rs 5 lakh to complete the work and a six-city tour to showcase it.

Participatory discussions are on the roster. Vikram Iyengar from Kolkata and Mandeep Singh Raikhy from Delhi will talk about performing spaces, from how we can make them safe to secular.Plus, Bengaluru artists will do on-site performances in Lalbagh Botanical Garden and at a mall on Lavelle Road.

Look up events on theprakritifoundation on Instagram