INTERFACE 2022
Eastern India’s First International Dance Biennial| Ed IX
New Delhi| Kolkata | 04-09 November
Sapphire Annual Gala
29th March, Purbashree Auditorium
EZCC, Salt Lake
Kolkata
6.30pm
Open Entry
TRANZ: Celebrating 29th Anniversary of Sapphire
Transmitting/Transiting/ Transforming
OFFBEAT CCU Kolkata
AUGUST 12 | 6:15 PM – 7:30 PM
Taking out of cultural and ceremonial context, and using them in contemporary dance…
Życie Bytomskie , Poland
GRACES THE STAGE WITH COURAGE AND STRENGTH…
The Bangkok Post
Sudarshan blends Modern and Post Modern dances with his Indian dance traditions…
George Jackson,Dance View Times, New York , USA
…ART THAT VALUES HUMAN LIFE
The Los Angeles Times
Strong coherent statement with inventive movement…
Stephanie Burridge, WDA , USA
SHOW WAS AN EDUCATION.
India Today
Pursuing continuous and contemporary experimentation in dance in Eastern India.
Stepping into its 28th year, Sapphire Creations Dance Company continues to inspire, drive and create contemporary dancers in Kolkata and rest of Bengal. From 1992 to now Sapphire Creations has striven to create first a language and then a literature of contemporary dance in Eastern India. Sapphire runs community programs, a training academy for dancers from 4 years upwards, an internship program for budding talent, one of India's earliest contemporary arts festivals INTERFACE, a regular Quarterly Art Series that encourages new experimentation and an International Choreographers Residency for continued international approaches to technical training.
SUDARSHAN CHAKRAVORTY
Artistic Director
Pioneer of a dynamic experimental form resulting from individual and ensemble mind-body improvisations, Sudarshan’s innovative idiom raises sensitive contemporary issues. Sudarshan has led the troupe as director-choreographer to performances in India and abroad. Director of INTERFACE, a writer, workshop leader and collaborator he has extensively worked as choreographer in the fields of fashion, film, theatre and television. He has been awarded by Oniel De Fellowship by Kalabharati, Canada in 2005 and Shyamal Sen Smriti Purashkar by Swapnasandhani in Kolkata in 2008. He also received the Stagecraft Awards for Best Choreography in consecutive years 2017 and 2018. Sudarshan nurtures Sapphire as an academy of young ideas, growth and experimentation giving birth to performers, productions and art events creating a whole new renaissance for the arts in India.
ANKITA DUTTAGUPTA
Associate Director
Ankita Duttagupta has been trained in Odissi from a tender age of 5 years and has been under the guidance of Guru Giridhari Nayak and Guru Swapnokalpa Roychoudhury Dasgupta for nine years . After that she started pursuing Contemporary Dance from Sapphire Creations Dance Company under Sudarshan Chakravorty and has been in the company for 14years now as a senior repertoire member.
Through her journey she trained with various visiting international and national choreographers in various techniques and choreographic method . She has been a dancer , instructor and a choreographer with Sapphire and has performed in several prestigious festivals and reputed platforms both nationally and internationally. She has been exploring herself as a solo performer and has been able to showcase her work as well as been invited in festivals like Prayana Festival organised by Attakalari , Emerging Artist Performance by Kolkata Centre for Creativity in association with Pickle Factory India and many more .
Ekonama: The Beginning at the End
A futuristic, but now plausible in these current pandemic times, vision of the end of days. Ekonama is a critique of the rapid depletion of natural resources by humankind and the impending loom of a deadly end to our beautiful world as we know it. Seeded as part of the Microsoft Create to Inspire Fellowship, the piece traces the story of communities uniting to create a movement to bring change with still a hope for the future. Ekonama has been performed in prestigious forums in India and USA.