Focusing on young musicians and dancers, the six-day SOPAN festival that begins today at Central Park, Rajiv Chowk, adds a new variant to the long list of festivals taking place in the city.
The festival has been organised by young and upcoming artists of Sahitya Kala Parishad, along with the Art, Culture and Language Department of Delhi Government, under a keen eye of Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Manish Sisodia. This year, around 24 artists, who got the scholarship from Sahitya Kala Parishad, will be performing at this platform, taking forward the traditional Indian art forms such as Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi and classical music.
The festival will be inaugurated by the Deputy CM. Sharing his views on the SOPAN festival, he said, “It is a matter of pride and celebration when today’s young talents come together and invest their time and energy to promote our traditional Indian art forms like dance and instrumental music. We are proud of these people and are glad that Sahitya Kala Parishad is setting platforms like SOPAN to provide them with an audience base.” Adding to the Deputy CM’s comments, Abhinandita Mathur, Advisor on Art and Culture to the Deputy CM, remarked, “Through this festival, we are not just trying to preserve the tradition of classical dance and music but also aim to help it grow through young dancers and musicians.
The festival will kick-start today with a melodious violin presentation by G Raghavendra Prasad, kathak by Garima Arya Chaturlal. Next in line is Bharatanatyam performance by Ankita Kaushik, who will perform Shuddha Brahma followed by an Allaripu. Later, she will perform on Om Namo Narayana composed by Ambujam Krishna and end her performance with a Thillana. There will also be a Kathak performance by Jaya Pathak.
The coming days too have an interesting line-up with Akshay Gupta presenting a vocal performance followed by Ankita Dhingra’s sitar ensemble. Tanya Gambhir, a senior disciple of Guru Kanaka Sudhakar will present two pieces in Bharatanatyam. The festival will culminate with the multi-faceted artist Avinav Mukherjee’s Kathak performance in which he will perform three pieces.
A peek into SOPAN
The festival will kick start today with a melodious violin presentation by G Raghavendra Prasad, kathak by Garima Arya Chaturlal. Next in line is Bharatanatyam performance by Ankita Kaushik, who will perform Shuddha Brahma followed by an Allaripu.