Artist Week Report for Day -1
‘’Dance is the poetic baring of the soul through motion’ –Scott Nilsson
Seth Anandram Jaipuria, takes pride in adding another feather to its cap by hosting the ‘Artist Week 2021- Poetry in Motion’ a 5-day event. The purpose of this event is to make our students familiar with varied personalities and genres of performing arts. It assumes great importance amid the pandemic as it helps one to cope with stress especially at a time when people of all age groups are forced to lead an isolated life.
Day 1, kicked off with the prayer dance performed by Shruti Sharma. She presented a beautiful Kathak piece. Our today’s chief guest was Mr. Jonathan Hollander, an American dance choreographer, educator, and artistic director. He is the proud owner of Battery Dance troupe in New York, founder of the annual Downtown Dance Festival, and co-founder of the Indo-American Arts Council. His company has presence in 70 countries– Germany, Malaysia, Kenya. Mr. Hollander expressed what dance means to him. He further shared a few videos to give his words, more clarity, and definition. He spoke about how difficult it is for anyone to take up dance as a profession and how deep passion, keeps it going. He said that dance empowers people, bring people together and that one doesn’t have to have a typical stage set up for that. Even a street becomes the dancer’s stage when he communicates with the people through his art.
There was massive enthusiasm among students who had been listening to the guest and they shot their questions towards the end of the event. Ansh Yadav, Fariha, Sana, Kovid, Jhanvi asked questions. The guest patiently quenched the thirst of all curious minds. Mr. Jonathan answered all the queries and also spoke about the physical strength that dancers need to attain through regular exercises. He also talked of expression which is one of the most important factors required in dancing. Mr. Jonathan concluded by saying, ‘Dance is a language that unites the world.’
The Principal, Ms. Poonam Kochitty gracefully expressed gratitude to the guest and voiced her thoughts about dance. She spoke about emotions, energy, and fluidity and was appreciative of the video on Moving Stories. She shared that it impresses her to see the connection that the guest has with our country, India. She also asked about a statue of Nataraja placed next to Mr. Jonathan to which he smilingly replied that he was in awe of a dancing God and the capacity to be creative.The event was concluded by Ms. Shilpi Kumar, who presented the Vote of thanks. The show ended on a great note.
