Empowering communities through culture
A unique feature of folk performative practices across Bangladesh is the bondona or requisite invocatory prelude, dedicated to the Guru, to Allah, to Goddess Sarasvati, and to other deities of diverse “Pantheons of Gods”, pronounced all in one breath, by the folk performers.
3y ago
Confrontations with Pain
‘Tread lightly for you tread on my realities' (Playwright Connel Morrison, on the ethical dilemma of reducing the complexity of conflict situations into narrative theatre)
6y ago
Of 'crème de café’ and ‘dal tadka’ at interstices of alterity
'It is the inbetween space that carries the burden of the meaning of culture, and by exploring this Third Space, we may elude the politics of polarity and emerge as the others of ourselves.' ― Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture
6y ago
Dancing Connections
Since August 2009 Bangladesh has been part of the Asia Pacific Region of the World Dance Alliance which 'serves as a primary voice for dance and dancers throughout the world'.
6y ago
Dancing the Diasporic Fantasy
Tobin Thomas does Bollywood in Toronto, trading in the virtual dreams created by this larger than life Indian film industry. Based in Mumbai, it is India's – and the world's - largest film business in terms of the number of films produced, and also the number of tickets sold each year.
6y ago
What's so funny about Comedy?
I left banking for comedy, because even my failures in comedy make me happier than my successes as a banker.
6y ago
The Politics of Art: Chaumtoli Huq's Documentary 'Workers Voices'
“What do you think an artist is? An imbecile, who only has eyes if he's a painter, ears if he's a musician...
6y ago
Ideology in Representation
While talking to Amit Patra, the scholar and independent filmmaker from Kolkata, invited to conduct a workshop on Documentary Film Production..
6y ago
May 20, 2017
Requiem for a Dream: Bot Tola's 'Crutcher Kornel'
'What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done.' Arthur Conan Doyle
May 13, 2017
Redefining the world through Music
At the first Rector's Forum of the just completed 'Inaugural Conference of Music Education Alliance Across the Silk Road (MEASR)' held in
May 6, 2017
An Eternity in One Night
Theatre group Teerondaj's choice of Badal Sircar as the playwright to be presented during their agitprop event at 'Beauty Boarding', on April 28, 2017, Friday, was appropriate for two reasons.
April 29, 2017
OF LOCATIONS AND DISLOCATIONS
As a riposte to 'Brexit', award-winning British theatre director Marianne Elliott states, “I feel that art, somehow, has to be at the heart of what's happening now.
April 22, 2017
Revisiting Critical Thinking
At the beginning of yet another new year and then, yet again, coining of new resolutions, it will certainly be worth our while to resolve to critically evaluate where the world is heading.
August 20, 2016
Dancing away boundaries
The thought of three young Bangladeshi dancers in North America immediately conjures up images of distance, of 'otherness', of struggle.
July 30, 2016
And, theatre strikes back!
After the Gulshan carnage, July 15, 2016 was the first day that Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) opened its doors for public performances, to packed audiences in all three of its auditoriums.
July 23, 2016
The Art & Politics of Documentation
For me, watching Naeem Mohaiemen's expository documentary,'Last Man in Dhaka Central', was essentially a trip down memory lane, reliving a time of hope.
July 16, 2016
Culture: The present site for struggle
We, the children of the language and cultural movement, of Bangladesh are heartbroken to witness, unfolding before our eyes, the phenomenon of an alien and mutant culture overtaking the very consciousness of our progeny, our nation. This is a consequence of a two-pronged assault.
June 25, 2016
Of Monsoons, Myths and Manasa
In Bangladesh, after the scorching heat of 'grishsho', or summer, comes the monsoons and with it come welcome thunder, lightning and pouring rainfall.
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