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
June 11, 2016
HISTORY OF RHYTHM, IN PIXELS
Dance is the one of the most ephemeral artistic creations, as it is here one moment and then gone the next.
May 14, 2016
#freeTagore
'Pochishe Boishakh', the birth anniversary of Bengal's very own Poet Laureate, brings with it a blitz of performances based on Tagore's literature...
May 7, 2016
Don't hold your breath
'Cultural action is an intervention in daily life, directed to the transformation of social consciousness.' ...
April 30, 2016
GIDREE BAWLEE EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ART
A few days ago if you entered the corner-most exhibition space at the EMK Center, no one would blame you if you thought it was an exhibition of rural artifacts.
April 23, 2016
The Body speaks anew
“To understand what I am saying, you have to believe that dance is something other than technique. We forget where the movements come from. They are born from life. When you create a new work, the point of departure must be contemporary life - not existing forms of dance.” -- Pina Bausch, German choreographer, dance director par excellence
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