The Centre for Indian Classical Dance (CICD) is organising Dance of India@75, a first-ever virtual classical dance competition, in association with virtual events platform Almond Virtex. The four-day online event that begins on July 24, will be streamed on OTT platforms, TV channels and social media. The jury comprises experts, gurus, divas and eminent personalities.
Being held under three themes viz Atmanirbhar Bharat, Viswaguru Bharat and Unsung Heroes of India, the competition will cover eight major Indian classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam, Sattriya and Kathakali.
The artiste community came under a lot of pressure after the lockdown in March 2020. With auditoriums and recording studios closed, the artistes were running out of their source of income. The event gives an opportunity to all these artistes who are struggling to make a comeback to showcase talent on the virtual platform.
Padma Vibhushan Dr Sonal Mansingh founded CICD in 1977, Since then, it consistently worked towards promoting classical Indian dances and the artiste community on a whole. “It is high time that we overcome the distressing shock of the pandemic and try to develop a new mode of presentation for the performing arts. Our young generation of dancers deserve good platforms where they can share their ideas and creativity without fear of incurring huge expenditure.
They need encouragement and a purpose to be able to carry on with this noble art,” she says, adding that it is important to explore new avenues for performances which give stable livelihood to the artiste, retaining the originality and classical nature of our art forms specially the dances. “The young, energetic team at Almond has helped us visualise a solution that’s going to solve many of our concerns today,” says Dr Mansingh.
“We are happy to support the artistes’ community in these unprecedented times. We are supporting CICD with a vigital medium to introduce the new normal of performing arts and thereby motivating the artists. With our platform and CICD’s monetary support, the artists will be able to sustain themselves during this crisis caused by the pandemic,” says Abhinav Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Almond Solutions.