Anonna, a dancer herself, has been curating the Dance vertical for last 11 years. She brings experience laced with creativity to the table.
Excerpts from the interview:
What’s that one thing that you love about Kala Ghoda Festival and why?
I love the adrenaline rush when each evening we unravel the dance performances of that particular day. The applause by the audience and the enthusiasm and love of each artiste for their dance style, makes me feel very content..
It’s free for the audience and there is no social stratification for the audience
What’s most challenging in planning the Dance vertical? And how do you counter it?
We receive hundreds of applications every year, to perform at the Festival. We are very grateful and I feel we are blessed, that our dancers and artistes love KGAF and they are keen to perform at our Festival. But naturally it is possible to only process limited number of applications each year. In fact this year we have been able to include in our programming some artistes who have applied to us in 2017.
At KGAF Dance we have a healthy mix of Indian classical dances, Folk Dances, Martial art forms, Dance Dramas, Popular Dances Bollywood, Western and Contemporary dances and Dances of the World. I have tried to include our talented dancers from North, South , East & West of India… The artistes may not be established but are talented and upcoming artistes have as much a right to perform as do our senior artistes. Sometimes we have 700-900 dancers perform in the dance section.
You have been with the fest for a very long time, which are the moments that are carved in your mind and why?
11 years now as the honorary Dance Curator. My institute Nrityanjali and members have volunteered & compered for the dance section for all these years and have been my pillar of strength… In my first year from the events team young Preksha Shinde was so supportive and we got along like a house on fire. I could depend on her totally. I will always remember her Mehek from Events was another gem.
One of my good memory is of Shivanshu Soni performing for us in 2025, who does a mix of Kathak & Fusion and is very popular among youngsters. He is very young in his 20s, but very simple and was fantastic, the audience couldn’t get enough of him.
Daksha Sheth & Isha sharvani performed in 2020 just before COVID struck….the production Sari was marvellous….Daksha ji doesn’t prefer to perform in open air like we do at Cross Maidan, since in an auditorium setting one gets to build the truss and do aerial acts like Isha does …which is difficult in open air…but she presented this beautiful Production, she was so warm…
Padmashree Shobhana performed in my first year in 2016 and people loved her performance and that of her groups’, which was designed specifically for KGAF audience…. It was immensely gratifying.
Another one was when Festival Director for my first three years, said publicly during KGAF ‘s success party, that the Dance Section was the best section. Coming from her it meant a lot…. when at another time during my book launch in which Brinda Miller wrote the Foreword for my book 21 Mantras and said in 2018 at the event of the book launch at KGAF literature section she said that I was the best Curator. I still look at the video recording with a lot of love….I was humbled and felt blessed
Which is your most favourite this year and why?
Am really excited and looking forward to Kumar Sharma & Kathak Rockers who will present Kathak & Kathak Fusion as the finale on the last day. It’s going to be a mix of tradition and modernity… Am also looking forward to senior artiste Vaibhav Arekar & Sankhya’s Bharatanatyam production Harihara on the opening day, to dance drama Bahinabai Chaudhari : Parimal…and then there is Traditional Korean dance that we are having for the first time by Yi (Lee) Chuljin from Seoul.
We have also focused on Diversity & Inclusion where on the opening day we have blind students performing Malkhamb & Hearing Handicapped students performing Folk Dance & Pyraminds… On 7 th Feb we have Together we Rise where Able bodied students & students with disability will perform the same evening in Together we Rise, marking our philosophy of Inclusion
This year we have all the 8 indian classical dance styles at the dance section plus Sufi presentation Roohani Rang.
